rhe  M e n tal  Traits 


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THE  MENTAL  TRAITS 
OF  SEX 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS 
OF  SEX 


AN  EXPERIMENTAL  INVESTIGATION  OF  THE  NORMAL  MIND 
IN  MEN  AND  WOMEN 

BY 

HELEN  BRADFORD  THOMPSON,  Ph.D. 

SOMETIME  FELLOW  IN  THE  DEPARTMENT  OF  PHILOSOPHY,  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 
DIRECTOR  OF  THE  PSYCHOLOGICAL  LABORATORY,  MOUNT  HOLYOKE  COLLEGE 

c 


* 


CHICAGO 

THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO  PRESS 
1903 


Copyright  IQ03 


BY  THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CHICAGO 


13  (*.  I 

w*t  rs  m 


AUTHOR’S  NOTE. 

My  sincerest  thanks  are  due  first  to  the  fifty  stu¬ 
dents  who  made  this  research  possible  by  devoting 
to  it  so  much  time  upon  which  other  demands  were 
heavy,  and  to  Professor  James  Rowland  Angell,  of  the 
University  of  Chicago,  who  suggested  the  problem, 
furthered  the  work  in  the  laboratory  in  every  way, 
and  assisted  throughout  by  his  kindly  criticism  and 
counsel.  I  wish  also  to  make  a  grateful  acknowledg¬ 
ment  to  Dr.  Edwin  Campbell  Woolley,  of  Ohio  Wes¬ 
leyan  University,  to  whose  careful  revision  of  the  man¬ 
uscript  and  reading  of  the  proof  the  book  is  chiefly 
indebted  for  whatever  excellence  of  form  it  may  pos¬ 
sess;  to  Miss  Jeanette  A.  Marks,  of  Mount  Holyoke 
College,  for  reading  and  criticising  the  manuscript ;  to 
Miss  Eleanor  Lauder  Jones,  for  her  assistance  in  mak¬ 
ing  out  the  questions  on  personality  and  general  infor¬ 
mation  ;  to  Dr.  Paul  Gerhardt  Woolley,  of  McGill 
University,  for  suggesting  and  making  the  apparatus 
used  in  the  fifth  test  on  ingenuity,  and  to  Miss  Alice 
Rollins  Little,  of  Mount  Holyoke  College,  for  her  help 
in  enlarging  the  drawings. 

H.  B.  T. 

Chicago,  July  12,  1902. 


iii 


CONTENTS. 


Chapter  I  —  Introduction . 

Object  of  this  research.  Previous  work  in  the  same  field. 
Criterion  for  the  selection  of  individuals  to  furnish  a  basis 
for  a  comparison  of  the  sexes.  Individuals  used  for  this 
series  of  tests.  Methods  in  comparative  work.  Number 
of  individuals  experimented  on  and  time  required  from 
each  one.  Field  covered  by  the  experiments.  Plan  of 
arrangement  of  the  work.  Method  in  making  the  experi¬ 
ments.  Method  of  formulating  results. 

Chapter  II  —  Motor  Ability . 

List  of  tests.  Reaction  times  :  apparatus,  method,  results, 
types  of  reaction.  Rapidity  of  finger  movement  and  rate 
of  fatigue  :  apparatus,  method,  result.  Formation  of  co-or¬ 
dination —  card-sorting:  apparatus,  method,  result.  Accu¬ 
racy  of  a  formed  co-ordination  —  target  test:  apparatus, 
method,  result  —  precision  of  movement  test:  apparatus, 
method,  result.  Motor  automatisms  :  apparatus,  method, 
result.  Summary  of  other  experimental  work  on  motor 
ability.  General  summary. 

Chapter  III  —  Skin  and  Muscle  Senses 

List  of  experiments.  Threshold  of  impact :  apparatus, 
method,  result.  Threshold  for  pain  on  the  right  and  left 
temples:  apparatus,  method,  result.  Discriminative  sensi¬ 
bility  for  pressure  on  the  palm  of  the  hand  :  apparatus, 
method,  result.  Discriminative  sensibility  for  lifted  weights  : 
apparatus,  method,  result.  Discrimination  of  two  points  on 
the  volar  side  of  the  forearm :  apparatus,  method,  result. 
Discriminative  sensibility  for  temperature:  apparatus,  meth¬ 
od,  result.  Summary  of  other  experimental  work  on  skin 
and  muscle  senses.  General  summary. 

Chaper  IV  — Taste  and  Smell . 

List  of  tests.  Apparatus  for  tests  on  taste.  Thresholds  of 
presence  and  of  recognition  in  taste  :  method,  result.  Dis¬ 
criminative  sensibility  for  taste  :  method,  result.  Appa- 


v 


VI 


CONTENTS 


ratus  for  tests  on  smell.  Modification  of  method  in  the 
case  of  smell.  Threshold  of  presence  for  smell :  method, 
result.  Threshold  of  recognition  for  smell :  method,  re¬ 
sult.  Discriminative  sensibility  in  smell  :  method,  result. 
Summary  of  the  tests  on  taste  and  smell.  Summary  of 
other  experimental  work  on  taste  and  smell.  General  sum¬ 
mary. 

Chapter  V  —  Hearing . 

List  of  tests.  Upper  limit  of  pitch  :  apparatus,  method, 
result.  Lower  limit  of  pitch  :  apparatus,  method,  result. 
Discriminative  sensibility  for  pitch  :  apparatus,  method, 
result.  Summary  of  other  experimental  work  on  hearing. 
General  summary. 

Chapter  VI — Vision . 

List  of  tests.  Threshold  for  light:  apparatus,  method,  re¬ 
sult.  Discriminative  sensibility  for  brightness  :  apparatus, 
method,  result.  Keenness  of  vision :  apparatus,  method, 
result.  Discrimination  of  color  and  color-blindness:  appa¬ 
ratus,  method,  result.  Discrimination  of  visual  areas:  appa¬ 
ratus,  method,  result.  Summary  of  other  experimental  work 
on  vision.  General  summary. 

Chapter  VII  —  Intellectual  Faculties  - 

List  of  tests.  Memory  :  material,  method,  results  ;  rate  of 
memorizing,  retentiveness,  type  ofjmagery  used,  methods  of 
memorizing.  Summary  of  tests  on  memory.  Association  : 
nature  of  test ;  method  ;  counting  of  the  total  number  of  asso¬ 
ciations,  result ;  counting  of  the  number  of  topics  touched 
upon,  results  ;  discussion  of  the  two  sets  of  results.  Inge¬ 
nuity  tests  :  nature  of  the  ingenuity  tests ;  source  of  error ; 
Test  I:  apparatus,  method,  result;  Test  II:  apparatus, 
method,  result;  Test  III :  apparatus,  method,  result ;  Test 
IV  :  apparatus,  method,  result ;  Test  V :  apparatus,  method,^ 
result.  Summary  of  ingenuity  tests.  General  informa¬ 
tion  :  questions  ;  treatment  of  answers ;  source  of  error ; 
results  ;  total  examination,  English,  history,  physics,  math¬ 
ematics,  biology,  question  25,  literary  subjects,  scientific 
subjects.  Summary  of  tests  on  general  information.  Sum¬ 
mary  of  other  experimental  work  on  intellectual  faculties. 
General  summary. 


CONTENTS 


Chapter  VIII — Affective  Processes 

List  of  tests.  Effect  of  affective  processes  on  respiration 
and  circulation :  apparatus,  method,  result.  Questions  on 
personality  :  purpose  and  value  of  the  questions  ;  field  cov¬ 
ered  by  the  questions;  questions  on  age,  health,  and  nation¬ 
ality,  answers  ;  questions  on  sensory  experiences,  answers  ; 
questions  on  methods  of  rest  and  recreation,  answers ; 
questions  on  the  individual  aspects  of  personality,  answers  ; 
questions  on  the  social  aspects  of  personality,  answers; 
questions  on  intellectual  interests:  methods  of  work  and 
belief,  answers.  Summary  of  other  experimental  work  on 
affective  processes.  General  summary. 

Chapter  IX  —  Conclusion . 

Summary  of  previous  chapters.  The  biological  theory  of 
the  psychological  differences  of  sex.  Comparison  of  our 
findings  with  this  theory.  Criticism  of  the  biological  the¬ 
ory  of  the  psychological  differences  of  sex.  Explanation 
of  the  psychological  differences  of  sex  by  differences  of 
training. 


Bibliography 


CHAPTER  I. 

INTRODUCTION. 

The  object  of  the  present  monograph  is  to  fur¬ 
nish  some  accurate  information  on  the  much-discussed 
question  of  the  psychology  of  the  sexes.  The  main 
part  of  it  consists  in  the  report  of  a  series  of  experi¬ 
ments  carried  on  in  the  psychological  laboratory  of  the 
University  of  Chicago  during  the  years  1898-99  and 
1899-1900.  To  have  an  adequate  setting,  such  a 
study  should  be  prefaced  by  a  review  of  the  historical 
aspects  of  the  problem,  a  critical  summary  of  the 
large  mass  of  argumentative  literature  on  the  subject, 
and  a  discussion  of  the  facts  of  anatomy  and  physi¬ 
ology  which  are  supposed  to  have  a  bearing  on  the 
psychology  of  sex.  The  mass  of  material  to  be  dealt 
with  is  far  too  great,  however,  to  be  satisfactorily 
treated  within  the  necessary  limits  of  the  present 
work.  It  has  therefore  been  necessary  to  restrict  this 
monograph  to  a  report  of  the  experimental  work  which 
forms  the  real  contribution  to  the  field,  a  review  of 
previous  experimental  work  bearing  on  the  subject, 
and  a  brief  discussion  of  the  results. 

The  present  research  is  the  first  attempt  to  obtain 
a  complete  and  systematic  statement  of  the  psycho¬ 
logical  likenesses  and  differences  of  the  sexes  by  the 
experimental  method.  Needless  to  say,  the  goal  has 
not  been  reached  within  the  limits  of  such  an  investi¬ 
gation.  All  that  has  been  done  is  to  gather  together 
some  evidence  bearing  on  the  problem,  which  is  trust- 


2 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


worthy  so  far  as  it  goes.  Previous  experimental  work 
has  been  in  the  form  of  detached  experiments  on  some 
single  sense  or  intellectual  process.  Usually  the  ex¬ 
periments  have  not  been  made  for  the  purpose  of  a 
comparison  of  the  sexes,  but  have  been  performed  with 
some  other  interest  in  view,  and  have  been  incidentally 
formulated  with  reference  to  sex.  Much  of  the  mate¬ 
rial  is  the  experimental  work  on  school  children  done 
under  the  influence  of  the  child-study  movement. 
The  only  previous  attempt  to  sum  up  the  experimental 
evidence  on  the  subject  is  that  by  Havelock  Ellis  (23)  ,* 
in  his  book  Man  and  Woman ,  published  in  1894.  The 
work  contains  no  original  investigation. 

In  making  a  series  of  tests  for  comparative  pur¬ 
poses,  the  first  prerequisite  is  to  obtain  material  that 
is  really  comparable.  It  has  been  shown  that  the 
simple  sensory  processes  vary  with  age  and  with  social 
condition  (11,  30,  51,  54,  63,  64,  65,  67).  No  one 
would  question  that  this  statement  is  true  for  the  intel¬ 
lectual  processes  also.  In  order  to  make  a  trustworthy 
investigation  of  the  variations  due  to  sex  alone,  there¬ 
fore,  it  is  essential  to  secure  as  material  for  experi¬ 
mentation,  individuals  of  both  sexes  who  are  near  the 
same  age,  who  have  the  same  social  status,  and  who 
have  been  subjected  to  like  training  and  social  sur¬ 
roundings.  The  complete  fulfilment  of  these  con¬ 
ditions,  even  in  the  most  democratic  community,  is 
impossible.  The  social  atmosphere  of  the  sexes  is 
different  from  the  earliest  childhood  to  maturity. 
Probably  the  nearest  approach  among  adults  to  the 
ideal  requirement  is  afforded  by  the  undergraduate  stu- 

'The  numbers  which  appear  in  parentheses  throughout  the  text 
refer  to  the  bibliography  at  the  end  of  the  volume. 


INTRODUCTION 


3 


dents  of  a  coeducational  university.  For  most  of  them 
the  obtaining  of  an  education  has  been  the  one  serious 
business  of  life.  They  have  had  at  least  the  similarity 
of  training  and  surroundings  incident  to  school  life. 
Most  of  those  in  a  western  university  have  received 
their  preparatory  education  in  coeducational  schools. 

The  individuals  who  furnished  the  basis  for  the 
present  study  were  students  of  the  University  of  Chi¬ 
cago.  They  were  all  juniors,  seniors,  or  students  in 
the  first  year  of  their  graduate  work.  The  original 
intention  was  to  limit  the  ages  to  the  period  from 
twenty  to  twenty-five  years.  Owing  to  the  difficulty 
of  obtaining  a  sufficient  number  of  subjects  within 
these  limits,  a  few  individuals  of  nineteen  years,  and 
a  few  over  twenty-five  were  admitted  (see  Fig.  8 1 ) . 
The  subjects  were  obtained  by  requesting  members  of 
the  classes  in  introductory  psychology  and  ethics  to 
serve.  They  were  told  nothing  about  the  object  of 
the  tests  except  that  they  were  for  the  purpose  of 
determining  psychological  norms.  The  series  of  ques¬ 
tions  on  age,  health,  and  nationality,  reported  in  chap, 
viii,  shows  that  in  all  these  respects  the  men  and 
women  tested  were  closely  comparable. 

Two  methods  may  be  followed  in  planning  a  series 
of  tests  designed  to  yield  material  for  the  comparison 
of  groups  or  classes.  It  is  possible  either  to  make 
rapid  and  more  or  less  superficial  measurements  on  a 
large  number  of  individuals,  depending  on  numbers  to 
counterbalance  the  errors  of  single  tests,  or  to  make 
careful  and  accurate  observations  of  a  smaller  number 
of  persons.  The  ideal  procedure  would  unquestion¬ 
ably  be  to  make  careful  measurements  of  a  large 
number  of  individuals,  but  since  the  amount  of  time 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


4 

available  for  any  problem  is  limited,  the  practical 
question  to  be  decided  is  —  Given  a  limited  amount  of 
time,  which  of  the  two  modes  of  procedure  mentioned 
is  more  likely  to  yield  valuable  results?  Accuracy  of 
measurement  seemed  an  indispensable  requirement  for 
such  a  study  as  the  present  one.  Any  reliable  determi¬ 
nation  of  a  threshold  or  a  discriminative  sensibility 
requires  a  somewhat  extended  series  of  experiments. 
With  subjects  untrained  in  psychological  experiments 
— as  most  of  these  were — it  is  essential  to  take  a  large 
enough  series  of  measurements  to  give  some  assurance 
that  the  results  represent  a  characteristic  reaction,  and 
not  haphazard  answers.  In  so  simple  a  test  as  that 
of  dermal  two-point  discriminations  the  first  few  judg¬ 
ments  are  very  likely  to  be  little  more  than  guesses. 
In  a  series  of  rapid  tests  like  those  employed  at 
Columbia  University  (82)  the  subject  is  given  only  five 
stimulations  with  the  sesthesiometer.  The  points  are 
kept  a  fixed  distance  apart  and  the  subject  is  given 
both  one-  and  two-point  stimulations  in  his  series  of 
five.  It  seems  improbable  that  the  results  of  such  a 
test  on  unpracticed  subjects  mean  anything  more  than 
random  answers.  The  Columbia  experiments  on  a 
large  number  of  students  failed  to  reveal  any  differ¬ 
ence  of  sex  in  the  fineness  of  two-point  discriminations, 
while  the  present  accurate  measurement  of  fifty 
subjects  shows  a  clear  difference. 

The  series  of  tests  employed  in  this  investigation 
required  from  fifteen  to  twenty  hours  of  time  from 
each  subject.  The  hours  were  arranged  from  one 
sitting  to  the  next  according  to  the  convenience  of 
the  subject.  It  was  not  possible  to  have  the  hours 
for  any  one  test  constant  for  all  subjects,  since  the 


INTRODUCTION 


5 


schedules  varied  so  widely  No  attempt  was  made  to 
keep  the  order  of  experiments  rigidly  the  same  for  all. 
Convenience  and  economy  of  time  necessarily  deter¬ 
mined  the  order  to  a  great  extent.  In  general,  however, 
the  simple  sensory  and  motor  tests  were  given  in  the 
early  part  of  the  series,  and  the  intellectual  tests  in 
the  latter  part.  The  questions  on  personality  usually 
came  last,  The  taste  and  smell  experiments  had  to  be 
scattered  through  most  of  the  periods,  since  only  a 
few  at  a  time  could  be  performed  without  fatigue. 
The  entire  series  was  applied  to  fifty  subjects,  twenty- 
five  men  and  twenty-five  women. 

The  experiments  fell  into  seven  groups,  dealing 
respectively  with  motor  ability^,  skin  and  muscle 
senses,  taste  and  s,mell,  hearing,  vision,  intellectual 
faculties,  and  affective  processes.  One  chapter  of 
this  monograph  is  devoted  to  each  group.  A  list  of 
the  experiments  under  each  group  will  be  found  at  the 
beginning  of  each  chapter.  At  the  end  of  each  chap¬ 
ter  there  is  a  comparison  of  results  with  those  of  other 
investigators,  and  a  general  summary.  The  numbers 
in  parentheses  used  in  the  summaries  of  other  experi¬ 
mental  work  and  throughout  the  text,  refer  to  the 
bibliography  at  the  end  of  the  volume.  The  bibli¬ 
ography  pretends  to  completeness  only  in  its  enumer¬ 
ation  of  the  experimental  researches  bearing  on  the 
problem,  and  even  here  there  are  doubtless  omissions, 
although  it  is  hoped  that  all  the  important  papers 
are  mentioned.  Whenever  for  the  sake  of  brevity  a 
dogmatic  statement  is  made  to  the  effect  that  there 
are  no  data  on  a  certain  point,  or  only  such  data  as 
are  quoted,  the  qualification,  so  far  as  the  author  ktiows, 
is  to  be  understood. 


6 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


The  report  of  each  experiment  includes  a  descrip¬ 
tion  of  the  apparatus  used,  a  statement  of  the  method, 
and  a  formulation  of  the  results.  Since  the  value  of 
experimental  work,  and  the  possibility  of  comparing 
one  set  of  results  with  another  depend  so  largely  upon 
the  method,  the  greatest  pains  has  been  taken  to  se¬ 
cure  uniformity,  and  to  describe  the  method  in  full 
in  each  case.  The  experiments  were  all  performed 
by  the  author,  with  the  exception  of  a  part  of  the 
reaction-time  tests,  which  had  to  be  repeated  because 
of  a  source  of  error  in  the  apparatus.  For  these  the 
author  is  indebted  to  Dr.  W.  C.  Gore  and  Mr.  H.  J. 
Pearce,  of  the  Graduate  School  of  the  University  of 
Chicago. 

A  few  words  in  general  on  the  methods  employed 
may  not  be  out  of  place,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  each 
is  described  in  full  in  connection  with  the  test.  The 
guiding  principle  in  selecting  the  method  was  the 
desire  to  make  the  directions  to  the  subject  as  clear 
and  simple  as  possible  and  at  the  same  time  secure  the 
greatest  possible  accuracy  of  result.  In  all  the  tests 
on  discriminative  sensibility  this  double  end  seemed 
best  secured  by  requiring  a  simple  judgment  of  com¬ 
parison  (i.  e.t  lighter  or  heavier,  more  or  less  cold,  etc.) 
between  two  stimuli.  The  subject  was  told  nothing 
of  a  standard  stimulus,  and  the  order  of  the  standard 
and  stimulus  of  comparison  was  varied.  The  differ¬ 
ence  in  intensity  between  the  standard  and  the  stimu¬ 
lus  of  comparison  was  varied  until  the  point  was  found 
at  which  three-fourths  of  the  judgments  were  correct. 
In  the  threshold  tests  of  taste  and  smell,  tasteless  and 
odorless  preparations  were  used  to  control  the  thresh¬ 
old  illusions.  The  greatest  care  was  taken  to  avoid 


INTRODUCTION 


7 


suggestion  of  all  sorts  in  all  the  tests.  The  descrip¬ 
tions  of  method  have  been  made  explicit  at  the  risk 
of  their  being  perhaps  somewhat  tedious  and  need¬ 
lessly  detailed. 

The  results  of  the  experiments  have  been  presented 
graphically  wherever  possible.  In  all  the  curves,  the 
dotted  line  is  for  women  and  the  unbroken  line  for 
men.  The  ordinates  always  represent  the  number  of 
subjects.  In  no  case  have  the  results  been  averaged. 
Wherever  graphic  representation  was  impracticable, 
they  have  been  grouped.  The  purpose  of  the  research 
was  norms,  not  averages. 


CHAPTER  II. 


MOTOR  ABILITY. 

The  subjects  of  the  tests  on  motor  ability  were  as 
follows  : 

A.  Reaction  times. 

1.  Auditory. 

2.  Visual. 

B.  Rapidity  of  finger  movement  and  rate  of  fatigue. 

C.  Co-ordination. 

1.  Formation  of  a  co-ordination.  Card-sorting. 

2.  Accuracy  of  a  formed  co-ordination. 

(a)  Striking  a  target. 

(b)  Precision  of  movement  in  drawing  lines. 

D.  Motor  automatisms. 

A.  REACTION  TIMES. 

Two  sets  of  simple  reaction  times,  the  first  auditory 
and  the  second  visual,  were  taken  from  each  subject. 
The  Hipp  chronoscope  was  used  for  both.  The  audi¬ 
tory  stimulus  was  a  click  in  a  telephone  receiver,  made 
by  breaking  the  circuit.  A  flash  of  pale  purple  light 
in  a  Geissler  tube  served  as  the  visual  stimulus. 
Between  forty  and  fifty  reactions  of  each  kind  were 
made  by  each  subject.  While  reacting,  the  subject 
sat  alone  in  the  reaction  room,  placed  in  as  comforta¬ 
ble  a  position  as  possible.  His  right  forearm  was  sup¬ 
ported  on  the  table,  and  the  forefinger  of  his  right 
hand  rested  lightly  on  the  button  of  a  break  key  which 
was  in  the  chronoscope  circuit.  The  telephone  for 
the  auditory  stimulus  was  adjusted  to  the  ear  of  the 

g 


MOTOR  ABILITY 


9 


subject.  The  Geissler  tube  for  the  visual  stimulus  was 
placed  on  the  table  in  front  of  the  subject.  It  was  sus¬ 
pended  before  a  black  background,  against  which  the 
flash  of  pale  purple  light  was  thrown  out  sharply.  A 
warning  signal  consisting  of  two  clicks  of  a  telegraph 
instrument  was  given  about  two  seconds  before  the 
stimulus.  The  time  was  varied  slightly  to  counteract 
the  widespread  tendency  to  premature  reactions.  The 
signal  for  the  release  of  the  key  after  the  reaction 
consisted  of  one  click  of  the  telegraph  instrument. 
The  reactions  were  taken  in  series  of  ten  to  twelve, 
with  four-  or  five-minute  periods  of  rest  between.  The 
subject  was  given  no  instructions  about  the  direction 
in  which  his  attention  should  be  concentrated.  He 
was  merely  told  to  make  the  reaction  as  nearly  instan¬ 
taneous  as  possible.  After  the  experiment  he  was 
asked  in  what  direction  his  attention  had  been  con¬ 
centrated  while  reacting. 

The  results  are  recorded  in  terms  of  the  mean  re¬ 
action  time  and  mean  variation  (74).  Series  of  the 
first  forty-one  unquestioned  reactions  of  each  kind 
served  as  the  basis  of  the  calculation.  Both  the  mean 
reaction  time  and  the  mean  variation  appear  in  the 
results  in  terms  of  sigma  (.001  seconds).  The  num¬ 
ber  of  subjects  represented  by  each  ordinate  in  the 


TABLE  I. 

Mean  variations  of  reaction  times. 


10 

<T 

12 

<S 

14 

cr 

16 

<j 

18 

<7 

20 

<T 

22 

<r 

24 

a 

26 

<j 

28 

cr 

30 

<7 

32 

(X 

36 

cr 

40 

<T 

50 

<T 

60 

C T 

70 

cr 

80 

cr 

90 

cr 

•3 

a 

< 

Women 
Men . .  . 

3 

3 

3 

1 

3 

2 

6 

3 

3 

1 

2 

2 

2 

1 

3 

1 

I 

X 

1 

2 

3 

1 

X 

3 

> 

Women 
Men.  .. 

3 

2 

2 

3 

3 

1 

3 

5 

2 

3 

2 

3 

2 

1 

2 

4 

1 

1 

I 

2 

2 

X 

IO 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


curve  is  the  number  whose  reaction  times  fell  be¬ 
tween  the  point  on  the  curve  at  which  the  ordinate  is 
erected  and  the  next  previous  one.  Thus  the  num¬ 
ber  of  subjects  represented  at  1500-  is  the  number 
whose  reaction  times  fell  between  I40er  and  I50cr. 

The  curves  repre¬ 
sented  in  Figs.  1  and 
2  show  that  the  men 
have,  on  the  whole, 
shorter  reaction  times 
T“  than  the  women.  In 
both  auditory  and 
visual  reactions  there 
are  several  men  with 
shorter  times  than  any 
of  the  women,  and  several  women  with  longer  times 
than  any  of  the  men.  Moreover,  the  men  are  decidedly 
more  numerous  than  the  women  in  the  region  of  short 
times.  The  average  of 
the  mean  variation  (Table 
I)  is  also  smaller  for  the 
men  than  for  the  women. 

The  difference  is  not  ap¬ 
parent  in  the  lowest  ranges. 

It  is  shown  by  the  smaller 
number  of  women  in  the 
middle  ranges,  and  their 
greater  number  in  the  re¬ 
gion  of  very  large  variations 


Fig.  1. 

Reaction  times.  Auditory.1 
Abscissas  —  sigma. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  persons. 
- -  women  ;  - men. 


Reaction  times.  Visual.1 
Abscissas  —  sigma. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  persons. 
-  -  -  -  women;  - men. 

The  fact  that  the  mean 


1  It  will  be  noticed  that  only  twenty-four  men  are  recorded  in  the 
reaction-time  curves.  The  reason  is  that  in  one  case  in  which  the 
results  were  unreliable  because  of  irregularity  in  the  apparatus,  it  was 
impossible  to  obtain  the  subject  again  for  a  repetition  of  the  experi¬ 
ment. 


MOTOR  ABILITY 


1 1 

variations  of  the  visual  reactions  are  in  both  sexes 
less  than  those  of  the  auditory,  is  doubtless  partly  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  auditory  reactions  were  taken  first. 
The  effect  of  practice  is  shown  in  the  greater  evenness 
of  the  visual  reactions. 

The  shorter  reaction  time  of  the  men  is  at  least 
partly  explained  by  special  training  in  athletics.  The 
man  who  made  the  most  rapid  reaction  both  to  the 
auditory  and  to  the  visual  stimuli  was  one  of  the  best 
players  on  the  football  team.  The  other  three  men 
who  made  very  quick  auditory  reactions  were  track 
athletes,  one  a  bicycle  rider  and  the  other  two  run¬ 
ners.  Two  of  these  latter  had  visual  reactions 
also  which  were  shorter  than  the  visual  reactions  of 
any  woman. 

The  type  of  the  reaction  was  recorded  under  one 
of  the  three  general  heads,  sensory,  motor,  and  cen¬ 
tral.  The  central  rubric  includes  all  cases  in  which 
the  subject  reported  that  his  attention  had  been 
equally  divided  between  stimulus  and  movement. 

TABLE  II. 


Types  of  reaction. 


Sensory. 

Motor. 

Central. 

t 

o 

Women . 

19 

5 

I 

•b 

D 

< 

Men . 

13 

8 

3 

p 

Women . 

21 

3 

I 

> 

Men . 

I  I 

9 

4 

There  is  a  decided  preponderance  of  women  with  a 
sensory  type  of  reaction.  The  adherents  of  the  Leip- 
sic  school  would  doubtless  say  that  the  shorter  reac- 


12 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


tion  time  of  the  men  is  to  be  explained  by  the  greater 
proportion  of  motor  reactors  among  them.  Probable 
as  this  theory  looks  from  the  tables,  it  is  not  borne 
out  by  a  detailed  examination  of  results.  The  men 
with  the  shortest  reaction  times  were  in  most  cases  of 
the  sensory  type,  while  several  of  the  motor  type 
were  among  those  with  longest  times.  The  real  expla¬ 
nation  of  the  greater  frequency  of  the  motor  type 
among  men  is  rather  to  be  sought  in  the  fact  that  they 
lead  more  active  lives  on  the  whole  than  women,  and 
are  more  interested  in  learning  new  movements  of 
various  sorts.  For  this  reason  their  attention  is  more 
likely  to  be  directed  to  the  technique  of  movement 
than  is  that  of  women. 

B.  RAPIDITY  OF  FINGER  MOVEMENT  AND  RATE  OF 
FATIGUE. 

The  apparatus  used  to  ascertain  the  rapidity  of  fin¬ 
ger  movement,  and  the  rate  at  which  the  finger 
becomes  fatigued,  was  a  counting  machine  worked  by 
a  rod  bearing  a  disc  on  which  the  finger  rested.  A 
dial  on  the  front  of  the  machine  registered  the  number 
of  times  the  rod  was  pressed.  The  machine  was  fas¬ 
tened  in  a  wooden  support  on  a  table,  with  the  rod 
projecting  upward.  The  wooden  support  was  extended 
into  a  rest  for  the  arm.  The  subject  sat  at  the 
table  with  his  forearm  from  elbow  to  wrist  resting  on 
the  support,  and  the  index  finger  of  his  right  hand  on 
the  disc  of  the  rod.  When  in  this  position,  every 
downward  movement  of  the  finger  pressed  the  rod 
down  and  was  registered  on  the  dial  of  the  machine. 
The  arm  was  bound  in  position  at  the  wrist  and  at  the 
elbow  to  confine  the  movement  as  much  as  possible  to 


MOTOR  ABILITY 


*3 


the  finger  muscles.  In  spite  of  this  precaution  the 
arm  came  into  play  somewhat,  particularly  after 
fatigue  set  in.  But  although  it  was  impossible  to  limit 
the  motion  strictly  to  the  finger  muscles,  still  they 
were  principally  involved,  and  the  conditions  were 
the  same  for  all  subjects.  In  pressing  down  the  rod, 
the  finger  was  working  against  a  considerable  resist¬ 
ance —  about  that  of  a  stiff-action  piano  key. 

The  subject  was  told  that  the  object  of  the  test 
was  to  find  out  how  rapidly  he  could  make  the  move¬ 
ment.  He  was  not  told  how  long  he  was  to  continue 
it.  His  only  instruction  was  to  start  the  instant  the 
signal  was  given,  and  keep  up  the  movement  until  he 
was  told  to  stop.  The  dial  readings  were  taken  every 
twenty  seconds  by  the  second  hand  of  a  watch.  The 
subject  was  stopped  at  the  end  of  two  minutes,  if  he 
had  not  already  given  out.  The  movement  had  by 
this  time  become  painful  in  every  case.  The  test  was 
made  twice.  The  second  time  the  subject  of  course 
knew  that  it  would  have  to  be  continued  until  it  became 
painful,  but  he  was  told  not  on  that  account  to  try  to 
save  his  strength  by  going  slowly  at  first,  but  to  go  as 
fast  as  possible  at  the  start,  and  let  the  running-down 
process  take  its  natural  course.  The  results  which 
appear  in  the  curves  are  averages  of  the  two  tests. 


TABLE  III. 

Finger  movement.  Endurance,  ».  e.,  number  of  seconds  the  movement 
was  continued. 


40 

60 

80 

100 

12# 

Women . 

1 

2 

3 

2 

2 

17 

23 

Men . 

*4 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


The  results  given  in  Figs.  3  and  4  and  Table  III, 
show  a  striking  advantage  on  the  part  of  the  men, 
both  in  the  initial  rate  of  the  movement,  and  in  the 
ability  to  sustain  it.  The  men  made  on  an  average 
about  ten  more  taps  in  twenty  seconds  than  the 

women.  Only  two  men 
gave  out  before  the  end 
of  two  minutes,  while 
eight  women  did  so. 
One  of  the  two  men 
had  had  his  arm  per¬ 
manently  weakened  by 
a  fracture.  The  men 
had  an  average  of  about 
twenty  taps  in  twenty 
seconds  faster  than  the 
women  at  the  close  of 
the  test. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  in  connection  with  this 
test  that  it  has  been 
shown  by  Professor 
Oscar  Reif  of  Berlin 
(70)  that  the  rate  of 
movement  of  the  sepa¬ 
rate  fingers  is  not  great¬ 
er  in  piano  players  than 
in  other  people.  The 
only  way  in  which  piano 
practice  would  give  an 
advantage  in  this  test 
is  by  increasing  endur¬ 
ance  through  the  general  strengthening  of  the  hand. 
In  so  far  as  this  factor  affects  the  results,  it  is  in  favor 


Finger  movement.  Rate  during  the 
first  twenty  seconds. 

Abscissas — number  of  taps. 

Ordinates — number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women;  - men. 


Fig.  4. 

Finger  movement.  Rate  during  the 
last  twenty  seconds. 

Abscissas — number  of  taps. 
Ordinates — number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women  ;  - men. 


MOTOR  ABILITY 


IS 

of  the  women,  since  there  were  more  piano-players 
among  them  than  among  the  men. 

Professor  Fere  (24)  makes  the  suggestion  that 
probably  the  force  and  the  rate  of  voluntary  move¬ 
ments  vary  together.  The  present  series  of  tests 
certainly  tends  to  corroborate  this  theory.  The 
amount  of  force  required  for  the  movement  was  even 
at  the  outset  well  within  the  limits  of  strength  for  both 
sexes,  but  the  rate  appears  constantly  as  a  function 
of  the  strength.  The  same  relation  between  force  and 
rate  may  account  for  the  faster  reaction  times  of  men. 

C.  CO-ORDINATION. 

I.  Formation  of  a  co-ordination. —  The  apparatus 
used  for  testing  the  ability  to  form  a  co-ordination 
was  one  of  the  boxes  of  thejastrow  card-sorting  appa¬ 
ratus  (39).  Its  four  divisions  were  marked  with  discs 
of  the  four  pure  colors,  red,  blue,  green  and  yellow. 
There  were  forty  cards  in  the  pack,  ten  of  each  color. 
Before  each  test,  the  pack  was  so  arranged  that  no 
two  cards  of  the  same  color  followed  one  another. 
The  directions  given  to  the  subject  were  to  sort  the 
pack  as  rapidly  as  possible,  throwing  each  card  into 
the  division  marked  with  its  own  color,  making  no 
stops  for  mistakes  and  no  attempt  to  correct  them. 
The  signal  to  start  was  the  word  “go,”  after  a  count 
of  three.  The  time  was  taken  with  the  second  hand 
of  a  watch.  The  test  was  made  three  times  for  each 
subject.  To  shut  out  the  effects  of  practice  and  in¬ 
sure  a  fresh  co-ordination  each  time,  the  colors  on  the 
divisions  of  the  box  were  arranged  differently  for  each 
trial.  The  results  are  given  in  terms  of  the  average 
time  of  the  three  trials  in  seconds  and  the  average 
number  of  mistakes. 


i6 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


The  curves  for  the  card-sorting  test  (Figs.  5  and 
6)  show  that  the  women  are  decidedly  more  rapid 
than  the  men.  The  best  record  is  that  of  a  woman. 
The  women’s  mean  rate  is  about  two  seconds  faster 
than  that  of  the  men,  and  there  are  several  men  with 

longer  times  than  any 
woman.  The  women 
have  also  a  somewhat 
higher  degree  of  accu¬ 
racy  than  the  men. 

To  ascertain  whether 
or  not  the  handling  of 
playing  cards  gave  an 
advantage  to  the  card 


Card-sorting  test.  Rate. 
Abscissas  —  time  in  seconds. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 
----  women;  - men. 


subjects  were  ques¬ 
tioned  as  to  their  habits 
of  card-playing.  The 
fact  that  those  who 
made  the  best  records, 
both  men  and  women,  were  people  who  played  cards 
very  little  or  not  at  all,  indicates  that  practice  in  card 
playing  is  not  of  great  importance  in  this  test.  In  so 
far  as  it  is  a  factor,  it  would  be  in  favor  of  the  men, 
since  there  were  more  card-players  among  them  than 
among  the  women. 

In  two  cases  of  abnormal  slowness  among  the  men, 
a  decided  color-blindness  is  doubtless  responsible 
None  of  the  subjects  were  so  color-blind  that  they 
could  not  distinguish  between  the  pure  colors  used  on 
the  cards,  but  in  the  two  worst  cases  of  color-blindness 
the  discrimination  was  probably  slower  than  the  normal. 
The  subject  with  the  longest  time  reported  a  feeling 


MOTOR  ABILITY 


•7 


of  slowness  in  recognizing  the  colors,  but  none  of  the 
others  were  conscious  of  this  difficulty.  That  the 
poorer  color  discrimination  of  the  men  (see  Fig.  47) 
could  account  for  their  slowness  in  sorting  the  cards 
is  impossible,  since  there  proved  to  be  no  co-ordination 
between  therateof  card¬ 
sorting  and  the  fineness 
of  color  discrimination. 

Several  subjects  with 
excellent  color  discrim¬ 
ination  were  slower 
than  the  average,  while 
several  of  those  with 
slight  partial  color¬ 
blindness  were  much 
faster  than  the  average. 

The  two  factors  of 
time  and  accuracy 
showed  no  co-ordination.  Some  subjects  with  the 
shortest  times  had  also  the  highest  degree  of  accuracy, 
and  some  with  the  longest  times  were  very  inaccurate. 

2.  Accuracy  of  a  formed  co-ordination. — The  first  of 
the  tests  on  the  accuracy  of  a  formed  co-ordination 
consisted  in  striking  at  the  center  of  a  target  with  a 
rapid  free-arm  movement.  The  target  was  a  sheet  of 
paper  on  which  were  inscribed  nine  concentric  circles. 
The  central  circle  had  a  diameter  of  2  cm.,  the  next 
one  4,  the  next  6,  etc.,  givinga  total  diameter  of  18  cm. 
to  the  target.  The  four  radii  at  right  angles  were 
marked  at  each  intersection  with  a  circle,  with  the 
number  of  millimeters  from  the  center  ;  the  first  one 
10,  the  second  20,  etc.  The  target  was  hung  on  the 
wall  at  such  a  height  that  its  center  was  on  a  level 


Card-sorting  test.  Accuracy. 
Abscissas  —  average  number  of  mis¬ 
takes. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

—  -  women  ;  - men. 


8 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


with  the  hand  when  the  arm  was  stretched  out  straight 
from  the  shoulder.  The  subject  then  took  his  stand 
at  such  a  distance  that  when  his  arm  was  extended 
before  him  the  point  of  a  pencil  held  in  the  hand  just 
touched  the  center  of  the  target.  He  was  required  to 
attempt  to  strike  the  inner  circle  with  the  pencil,  in 
rapid  thrusts  from  the  shoulder.  The  rate  of  move¬ 
ment  was  timed  with  a  metronome.  Before  beginning 
the  test  the  subject  was  allowed  to  practice  a  few 
strokes  on  a  blank  paper  for  the  purpose  of  learning 
the  rhythm.  He  was  then  required  to  hit  the  target 
fifty  times. 

The  results  were  calculated  by  counting  the  num¬ 
ber  of  strokes  which  fell  within  each  successive  5  mm. 
section  of  the  target,  measured  from  the  center  along 
the  radii.  Table  IV  gives  the  results  in  full,  in  terms 
of  the  percentage  of  dots  falling  within  each  section 
of  the  target. 

TABLE  iv. 


Target  test.  Percentage  of  the  total  number  of  dots  falling  within 
each  of  the  first  four  sections  of  the  target. 


Secs. 

5% 

10% 

15% 

20% 

25% 

35% 

40% 

45% 

5°% 

55% 

Women . 

5 

2 

3 

6 

3 

1 

3 

2 

4 

Men . 

3 

2 

1 

1 

4 

3 

7 

6 

2 

o 

Women . 

1 

5 

1 1 

2 

7 

I 

2 

7 

Men . 

3 

4 

8 

7 

7 

j 

Women . 

4 

5 

8 

6 

2 

4 

Men . 

3 

4 

9 

5 

7 

I 

•D 

8 

Women . 

8 

7 

3 

3 

6 

Men . 

12 

5 

5 

MOTOR  ABILITY 


*9 


Jf  JS- 

Fig-  7- 

Target  test.  Percentage  of  dots  falling 
within  the  5  mm.  section  of  the 
target. 

Abscissas  —  percentage  of  dots  in 
5  mm.  section. 

Ordinates —  number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women  ;  - men. 


The  general  outcome  of  the  test  may  most  read¬ 
ily  be  seen  by  compar¬ 
ing  the  two  curves 
(Figs.  7  and  8)  plotted 
from  Table  IV.  The 
first  one  is  a  graphic 
representation  of  the 
percentage  of  dots  fall- 
ing  within  the  inner- 
mostsection(f. e.,  5mm.) 
and  the  second  one  of 
the  percentage  of  dots 
falling  within  the  1 5- 
20  mm.  section,  which 
was  the  outermost  one 
in  which  all  subjects  (except  one)  placed  dots.  The 
first  curve  shows  a  greater 
number  of  women  than  men 
with  small  percentages  of 
dots  in  the  center  of  the  tar¬ 
get,  and  a  greater  number 
of  men  than  women  with 
large  percentages.  The  sec¬ 
ond  curve  shows  the  reverse 
to  be  true  for  the  outer  sec¬ 
tion  of  the  target.  The  men 
with  small  percentages  are 
somewhat  more  numerous 
than  the  women,  and  the 
women  with  large  percent¬ 
ages  than  the  men.  The 
two  curves  agree  in  showing 
better  co-ordination  on  the  part  of  the  men.  Table  V, 


Fig.  8. 

Target  test.  Percentage  of  dots 
falling  within  the  1 5-20  mm. 
section  of  the  target. 
Abscissas  —  percentage  of  dots 
in  the  1 5-20  mm.  section. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 
-  -  -  -  women  ;  - men. 


20 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


showing  the  range  of  the  dots  farthest  from  the  cen¬ 
ter,  corroborates  this  conclusion.  There  are  more 
men  than  women  who  put  no  dots  outside  the  20  mm. 
circle,  and  more  women  than  men  with  dots  falling 
beyond  20  or  25  mm.,  although  the  best  record  was 
that  of  a  woman.  The  differences,  though  small  in 
each  case,  are  in  accord  in  showing  better  co-ordina¬ 
tion  on  the  part  of  the  men. 

The  second  of  the  tests  on  the  accuracy  of  a 
formed  co-ordination  was  made  with  an  apparatus 
modeled  after  that  used  by  Bryan  (11)  in  his  tests  on 
school  children  for  determining  the  precision  of  move¬ 
ment.  This  apparatus,  however,  was  made  on  a  much 
larger  scale  than  Bryan’s,  and  was  used  for  free-arm 
movements  instead  of  finger  movements.  It  consisted 
of  two  thin  strips  of  copper  21  cm.  long  fastened  to  a 
glass  surface  in  such  a  way  that  they  were  in  contact 
at  one  end,  and  diverged  very  gradually  toward  the 
other,  where  they  were  about  5  mm.  apart.  A  brass 
writing-point  ending  in  a  small  knob  was  connected  by 
a  flexible  wire  with  a  battery  whose  circuit  was  closed 
whenever  the  writing-point  touched  either  of  the  strips 
of  metal.  The  closing  of  the  circuit  was  announced  by 
the  click  of  a  telegraph  instrument.  The  point  where 

table  v. 

Target  test.  Outer  limits  of  dots  on  the  target. 


Sections  of  Target. 


5 

IO 

15 

20 

25 

30 

35 

40 

h  • 

v  .t: 

Women . 

I 

6 

9 

5 

3 

I 

o~ 

Men . 

10 

8 

4 

3 

MOTOR  ABILITY 


21 


Precision  of  movement  test.  Right 
hand,  toward. 

Abscissas — scale  readings,  in  centi¬ 
meters. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

....  women  ;  -  men. 


the  strips  of  metal  were  such  a  distance  apart  that  the 
knob  of  the  writing-point  when  placed  on  the  glass 
between  them  just  made  the  contact  with  both  strips  of 
metal,  was  called  the  zero  point.  From  the  zero  point  to 
the  ends  of  the  strips  millimeter  scales  were  marked 

on  both  pi-eces  of  metal. 
The  total  length  of  the 
scale  was  twenty  cm. 
The  glass  on  which  the 
metal  strips  rested  was 
sunk  into  a  board  and 
set  with  putty  on  a  level 
with  the  surface  of  the 
board.  The  board  thus 
afforded  a  support  for 
the  hand  in  making  the 
movement. 

For  the  first  test  the  subject  was  seated  at  a  table 
with  the  apparatus  before  him  in  such  a  position  that 
the  strips  of  metal  con¬ 
verged  toward  him.  He 
was  told  to  start  at  the 
twenty  cm.  point  of  the 
scale  and  attempt  to 
draw  a  line  on  the  glass 
between  the  strips  of 
metal  without  touching 
either  one.  In  this  po¬ 
sition  the  movement 
was,  of  course,  toward 
the  body.  The  subject  was  allowed  to  hold  the  writ¬ 
ing-point  as  he  chose,  and  take  his  own  rate  of  move¬ 
ment.  The  only  regulation  was  that  the  movement 


Precision  of  movement  test.  Left 
hand,  toward. 

Abscissas  —  scale  readings,  in  centi¬ 
meters. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 
----  women;  - men. 


22 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


Fig.  ii 

Precision  of  movement  test.  Right 
hand,  away. 

Abscissas  —  scale  readings,  in  centi¬ 
meters. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women ;  - men. 


must  be  continuous  from  start  to  finish,  and  must  be  a 
free-arm  and  not  a  finger,  wrist,  or  elbow  movement. 
As  soon  as  a  click  of  the  telegraph  instrument  indi¬ 
cated  a  contact,  the  subject  stopped  and  began  again. 
The  point  on  the  scale  where  the  click  occurred  was 

noted  each  time.  The 
subject  was  allowed  two 
or  three  trials  to  see  how 
the  apparatus  worked, 
and  then  the  readings 
of  five  successive  trials 
with  each  hand,  first 
the  right  and  then  the 
left,  were  taken.  For 
the  second  test  the 
apparatus  was  turned 
around,  and  the  move¬ 
ment  was  made  away  from  the  body  five  times  with 
each  hand. 

Each  of  the  four  sets  of  results  obtained  from  each 
subject  (i.  e.,  right  hand, 
toward  and  away ;  left 
hand,  toward  and  away) 
was  averaged,  and  its  av¬ 
erage  variation  reckoned. 

In  all  four  movements 
the  men  have  a  somewhat 
greater  degree  of  preci¬ 
sion  than  the  women 
(Figs.  9-12).  The  right- 
hand  movements  are  bet¬ 
ter  than  the  left  for  both  sexes,  and  the  movements 
toward  the  body  better  than  those  away  from  it. 


Precision  of  movement  test.  Left 
hand,  away. 

Abscissas  —  scale  readings,  in  cen¬ 
timeters. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women  ;  - men. 


MOTOR  ABILITY 


23 


The  average  variations  (Table  VI)  for  the  sexes 
approximate  one  another  more  closely  than  the 
averages.  In  the  movements  away  from  the  body 
neither  sex  can  be  said  to  have  greater  uniformity. 
In  the  movements  toward  the  body  the  variation  of 
the  men  is  somewhat  less  wide  than  that  of  the 
aromen. 

TABLE  VI. 


Precision  of  movement.  Average  variation  of  five  trials. 


0.5 

1 .0 

*•5 

2.0 

2-5 

3-o 

3.5 

4.0 

4-5 

5-o 

cm. 

cm. 

cm. 

cm. 

cm. 

cm. 

cm. 

cm. 

cm. 

cm. 

Xl  m 

Women . 

I 

3 

6 

2 

4 

2 

3 

2 

2 

“s 
«  2 

Men. .  . . 

2 

6 

6 

6 

4 

I 

'H 

Women. 

I 

3 

8 

4 

6 

2 

I 

Left 
1  tow 

Men. .  . . 

4 

5 

3 

7 

2 

2 

I 

I 

Right, 

away 

Women . 
Men. .  . . 

3 

4 

8 

6 

4 

4 

5 

6 

2 

2 

3 

I 

2 

>x 

Women . 

I 

9 

5 

3 

3 

2 

2 

•2“ 

Men. .  . . 

5 

4 

S 

2 

3 

3 

2 

I 

D.  MOTOR  AUTOMATISMS. 

The  object  of  the  test  on  motor  automatisms  was 
merely  to  discover  whether  or  not  a  tendency  toward 
automatic  movements  was  present  in  the  subject.  The 
apparatus  employed  was  that  used  by  Miss  Stein  (76) 
in  her  experiments  in  this  field.  It  consisted  of  an 
oblong  board  suspended  from  a  hook  in  the  ceiling  by 
ropes  attached  to  its  four  corners.  When  adjusted, 
the  board  hung  in  a  horizontal  position  about  two 
inches  above  the  surface  of  a  table,  on  which  was 


24 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


placed  a  large  sheet  of  rough  manila  paper.  The  sub¬ 
ject  sat  at  the  table  with  his  right  arm,  from  wrist  to 
elbow,  resting  on  the  board.  He  held  in  his  hand, 
which  hung  over  the  edge  of  the  board,  a  soft  black 
lead  pencil,  whose  point  rested  lightly  on  the  paper. 
The  board  responded  instantly  to  any  movement  of 
the  arm.  Each  movement  was  registered  on  the  paper 
by  means  of  the  pencil. 

The  instructions  given  the  subject  were  to  place 
himself  in  a  perfectly  comfortable  position,  such  that 
the  arm  would  have  no  tendency  to  move  through 
strain,  and  then  to  let  his  arm  do  as  it  pleased, — move 
if  it  wished  or  stay  still  if  it  wished, —  not  to  inhibit 
any  impulses  to  movement  which  arose,  nor  make  any 
voluntary  movements.  The  subject’s  attention  was 
distracted  during  the  test  by  asking  him  the  series  of 
questions  on  personality  given  in  chap.  viii.  These 
questions  proved  to  be  a  very  efficient  method  of  dis¬ 
traction,  since  the  subjects  were  universally  interested 
in  them. 

The  results  were  classified  under  four  heads,  with 
reference  to  the  presence  of  automatisms,  i.  <?.,  Absent, 
Doubtful,  Present,  and  Marked.  The  cases  where  no 
movement  was  registered,  or  only  such  movement  as 
was  evidently  due  to  slight  changes  of  position,  were 
marked  “  absent.”  Those  where  the  amount  of  move¬ 
ment  was  greater,  but  still  possibly  due  to  changes  of 
position,  or  to  gradual  accommodation  to  slight  strain, 
were  called  “  doubtful.”  Cases  where  the  movements 
were  unquestionably  automatic  arm  movements,  but 
slight  in  extent  and  number,  were  marked  “  present,” 
while  those  having  movements  of  considerable  extent 
and  variety  were  classified  as  “  marked.” 


MOTOR  ABILITY 


25 


TABLE  VII. 

Prevalence  of  motor  automatisms. 


Absent. 

Doubtful. 

Present. 

Marked. 

Women . 

8 

5 

5 

7 

Men . 

9 

6 

6 

4 

The  results,  given  in  Table  VII,  show  a  somewhat 
greater  tendency  on  the  part  of  women  to  display 
motor  automatisms  than  on  the  part  of  men.  The 
tendency  is  shown  most  clearly  in  the  last  column  of 
the  table. 

SUMMARY  OF  OTHER  EXPERIMENTAL  WORK  ON 
MOTOR  ABILITY. 

There  are  several  researches  on  reaction  time  to 
compare  with  the  present  experiments.  Lewis  (46), 
after  experimenting  on  a  large  number  of  American 
men  and  women,  using  both  visual  and  auditory  reac¬ 
tions,  found  that  men  are  quicker  than  women  in  both 
kinds  of  reaction,  and  have  a  smaller  mean  variation. 
The  Columbia  University  tests  (82)  included  five  audi¬ 
tory  reactions  for  each  subject.  In  these  the  women 
were  slower  than  the  men.  The  remaining  reaction¬ 
time  tests  of  which  we  have  a  record  were  made  on 
children.  Gilbert  (30)  has  shown  that  boys  are 
quicker  than  girls  at  all  ages  in  auditory  reaction,  and 
that  boys  of  over  ten  years  have  a  smaller  mean  varia¬ 
tion  than  girls.  MacDonald,  from  his  work  on  the 
school  children  of  Worcester,  Mass.  (55,  p.  1106), 
reports  a  longer  reaction  time  for  girls  of  all  ages. 
Herzen  (33, Appendix) ,  from  a  much  less  extended 
series  of  observations  than  those  on  school  children, 
concludes  that  young  girls  are  quicker  in  their  reac- 


26 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


tions  than  boys,  but  that  after  adolescence  the  relation 
is  reversed.  As  far  as  adults  are  concerned,  therefore, 
the  experimental  evidence  agrees  unanimously  with 
the  present  series  of  tests  in  showing  that  men  have  a 
shorter  reaction  time  and  a  smaller  mean  variation 
than  women.  The  same  relation  as  to  rate  probably 
holds  for  children. 

The  only  comparable  tests  on  the  rapidity  of  finger 
movement  and  the  rate  of  fatigue  are  those  performed 
on  school  children  by  Bryan  ( 1 1,  p.  173) , Gilbert  (30), 
and  Bagley  (3)  ;  and  those  reported  by  MacDonald 
(55,  p.  1105).  They  are  all  in  accord  with  the  series 
of  tests  here  reported  in  finding  greater  rapidity  of 
finger  movement  among  males  than  among  females. 
Gilbert  also  reports  that  boys  are  somewhat  less  easily 
fatigued  than  girls,  a  conclusion  which  is  again  in 
accord  with  the  present  results.  The  Columbia  Univer¬ 
sity  tests  (82)  on  fatigue  show  no  difference  between 
men  and  women  in  this  respect.  But  in  this  case  the 
experiment  was  performed  with  Cattell’s  ergometer 
and  the  subject  was  required  to  make  fifty  pressures 
on  the  instrument  at  the  rate  of  one  a  second,  condi¬ 
tions  certainly  not  so  well  calculated  to  produce 
fatigue  as  those  of  the  tapping  test.  The  failure  to 
indicate  any  sexual  difference  in  fatigue  may  be  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  amount  of  fatigue  induced  by 
the  experiment  was  so  slight.  In  the  tests  recently 
made  on  Chicago  school  children  (18)  the  boys  sur¬ 
passed  the  girls  in  both  strength  and  endurance  at  all 
ages. 

Bagley  (3)  in  his  experiments  on  school  children 
used  the  card-sorting  test  in  several  forms  as  a  test  of 
mental  ability.  He  reports  that  he  found  girls  some- 


MOTOR  ABILITY 


2  7 


what  superior  to  boys  in  mental  ability  —  a  result 
which  is  in  accord  with  that  of  the  present  test  on 
card-sorting.  Another  experiment  which,  although 
not  directly  comparable  with  the  card-sorting  test,  is 
still  of  the  same  type,  is  the  one  called  a  test  for  the 
rate  of  perception  in  the  Columbia  University  series 
(82).  The  subject  was  given  a  card  containing  five 
hundred  printed  letters,  of  which  one  hundred  were 
A’s,  arranged  haphazard,  and  was  asked  to  mark  out 
all  the  A’s  as  rapidly  as  possible.  Here,  again,  the 
women  were  more  rapid  than  the  men.  The  essence 
of  the  test  in  this  case  also  is  the  formation  of  a  new 
eye-hand  co-ordination. 

Both  Bryan  (11,  pp.  192-6)  and  Bagley  (3)  find 
boys  slightly  superior  to  girls  in  precision  of  move¬ 
ment.  Bryan’s  test  was,  like  the  present  one,  the 
drawing  of  a  single  straight  line.  Bagley’s  consisted 
in  tracing  a  pattern.  Bryan  also  found  boys  slightly 
superior  to  girls  in  a  target  test.  All  these  tests  on 
the  accuracy  of  a  formed  co-ordination  agree  in  show¬ 
ing  the  male  child  and  adult  slightly  superior  to  the 
female. 

The  experiments  on  involuntary  movements,  and 
movements  influenced  by  the  sight  of  moving  objects 
carried  on  by  Tucker  (81,  p.  404)  with  Jastrow’s  auto- 
matograph  revealed  no  difference  of  sex  in  children. 
Miss  Stein’s  experiments  (76)  on  college  students,  in 
which  she  used  the  same  apparatus  which  was  used 
in  the  present  tests,  produced  results  which  are  in 
accord  with  those  given  above,  in  so  far  as  they  are 
comparable  with  them.  She  finds  a  somewhat  greater 
proportion  of  women  than  men  who  display  spontane¬ 
ous  motor  automatisms. 


28 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


GENERAL  SUMMARY  OF  EXPERIMENTS  ON  MOTOR  ABILITY. 

All  the  tests  on  motor  ability  of  which  we  have 
record  agree  in  showing  that  in  most  phases  this  ability 
is  better  developed  in  the  male  than  in  the  female. 
Men  have  a  shorter  reaction  time,  with  a  smaller  mean 
variation  than  women.  They  have  a  greater  rapidity 
of  movement  than  women,  and  become  fatigued  less 
rapidly.  They  have  a  somewhat  greater  accuracy  of 
movement  than  women.  Women  excel  men  in  the 
formation  of  a  new  motor  co-ordination,  such  as  that 
of  card-sorting  and  of  marking  out  A’s,  and  are 
slightly  more  subject  to  motor  automatisms  than  men. 


CHAPTER  III. 


SKIN  AND  MUSCLE  SENSES. 

Three  groups  of  problems  connected  with  the  skin 
and  muscle  senses  were  investigated  ;  touch  and  pres¬ 
sure,  cutaneous  space,  and  temperature.  The  subjects 
under  each  heading  were  as  follows  : 

A.  Touch  and  pressure. 

1.  Threshold  of  impact  on  the  volar  side  of  the  forearm. 

2.  Threshold  for  pain  through  pressure  on  the  right  and  left 
temples. 

3.  Discriminative  sensibility  for  pressure  on  the  palm  of  the 
hand. 

4.  Discriminative  sensibility  for  lifted  weights. 

B.  Cutaneous  space. 

1.  Discrimination  of  two  points  crosswise  and  lengthwise  on 
the  volar  side  of  the  forearm. 

2.  Discrimination  of  areas  on  the  volar  side  of  the  forearm. 

C.  Temperature. 

1.  Discriminative  sensibility  at  the  physiological  zero. 
Standard,  30°  C. 

2.  Discriminative  sensibility  for  cold.  Standard,  50  C. 

3.  Discriminative  sensibility  for  heat.  Standard,  450  C. 

A.  TOUCH  AND  PRESSURE  SENSATIONS. 

I.  Threshold,  of  impact. — The  piece  of  apparatus 
used  in  the  determination  of  the  threshold  of  impact 
was  one  designed  by  Professor  James  R.  Angell  for  use 
in  the  laboratory  of  the  University  of  Chicago  (  1)  .  In 
brief,  the  instrument  is  a  delicate  balance,  and  the 
stimulus  is  given  by  a  cork  surface  at  the  end  of  a 
rod  suspended  from  one  arm  of  the  balance.  So  long 


29 


3° 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


as  the  amount  of  fall  of  the  balance  arm  and  the 
weight  producing  the  fall  are  constant,  the  force  of 
the  impact  must  be  constant.  The  instrument  is 
noiseless,  and  the  stimulations  can  be  given  at  any  rate 
desired. 

The  area  used  in  the  present  investigation  was  the 
middle  of  the  volar  side  of  the  right  forearm.  The 
middle  point  between  the  wrist  and  the  elbow  was 
marked  with  an  ink  spot.  The  arm  was  then  adjusted 
on  padding  under  the  balance  arm;  a  flat  uniform 
area,  if  possible  with  no  hairs,  was  selected  close  to 
the  ink  spot ;  and  the  balance  arm  was  brought  over 
this  area.  The  cork  surface  was  raised  3  mm.  above 
the  area,  and  a  trial  weight  of  20  mg.  placed  in  the 
weight  pan.  The  stimulations  were  given  in  series  of 
ten,  with  intervals  of  from  twenty  to  sixty  seconds 
between  stimulations.  Any  rhythmic  regularity  in  the 
series  was  carefully  avoided.  The  subject  was  directed 
to  count  aloud  every  time  he  felt  the  stimulations  — 
one  for  the  first,  two  for  the  second,  etc.  The  point 
at  which  he  could  count  seven  or  eight  in  ten  correct¬ 
ly  was  taken  as  the  threshold.  Not  more  than  three 
series  in  succession  were  given  without  a  rest  and 
change  of  position. 

This  test  was  made  in  combination  with  the  one 
for  the  absolute  threshold  for  vision  (see  chap,  vi, 
sec.  A).  The  subject  was  obliged  to  have  his  eyes 
completely  protected  from  the  light  for  three-quarters 
of  an  hour  before  the  threshold  for  light  could  be 
tested.  This  time  was  used  for  the  determination  of 
the  touch  threshold,  and  the  discriminative  sensibility 
for  area  (see  sec.  B,  2,  below).  During  the  entire 
test,  therefore,  the  subject  sat  with  his  head  in  the 


SKIN  AND  MUSCLE  SENSES 


3i 


dark  box.  Since  the  ventilation  of  the  box  was  not 
good,  the  conditions  were  not  so  favorable  for  the 
concentration  of  attention  as  in  the  other  tests,  but 
this  distraction  was  the  same  for  all  subjects. 

Since  the  size  of  the  contact  surface  (2  mm.  square) 
and  the  height  of  the 
fall  (3  mm.)  were  kept 
constant  throughout  the 
entire  series  of  tests, 
and  the  weight  in  the 
weight  pan  was  the  only 
factor  varied,  the  re¬ 
sults  can  be  recorded  for 
comparative  purposes 
in  terms  of  weight  only. 

The  determination  of 
the  threshold  was  rendered  very  difficult  in  some  cases 
by  a  tendency  to  imagine  stimulations  as  soon  as  the 
threshold  was  approached.  Almost  all  of  the  subjects 
put  a  few  imaginary  sensations  into  the  series.  In  a 
few  the  tendency  was  very  marked.  One  subject  —  a 
man  —  counted  a  whole  series  of  fifteen  non-existent 
stimulations.  The  tendency  was  partially  counter¬ 
acted  by  telling  the  subject  of  his  error.  The  point 
where  seven  or  eight  of  the  real  stimulations  were 
correctly  counted,  regardless  of  the  extra  ones  in¬ 
serted,  was  finally  taken  as  the  threshold. 

The  curve  for  the  threshold  of  impact  (Fig.  1 3)  shows 
a  somewhat  lower  threshold  in  the  women.  In  the 
region  of  very  low  thresholds  the  men  and  women  are 
present  in  equal  numbers,  but  the  women  are  in  excess 
in  the  middle  lower  ranges,  and  the  men  in  the  upper. 
The  real  difference  is  probably  somewhat  greater  than 


Threshold  of  impact. 

Abscissas  —  weight  in  milligrams. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women ;  - men. 


32 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


the  curve  represents,  because  the  region  used  —  the 
forearm  —  is  more  plentifully  supplied  with  hairs  in 
men  than  in  women. 

It  is  perhaps  worth  while  to  mention,  in  passing,  a 
curious  illusion  experienced  by  several  of  the  subjects 
in  connection  with  this  test.  Although  all  the  stimu¬ 
lations  of  any  one  series  were  given  on  exactly  the 
same  spot,  several  subjects  volunteered  the  observa¬ 
tion  that  they  could  feel  the  changes  of  position  of 
the  stimulations  very  distinctly.  One  subject  said  that 
the  successive  stimulations  described  a  long  oval  from 
wrist  to  elbow,  and  that  they  differed  in  distinctness 
in  different  regions.  There  was  no  opportunity  to 
examine  further  into  this  phenomenon. 

2.  Threshold  for  pain  on  the  right  and  left  temples. — 
The  thresholds  for  pain  on  the  temples  were  taken  with 
a  spring  algometer  registering  4,000  g.  (57).  The 
subject  was  required  to  lay  his  head  on  a  thin  padding 
on  the  table,  with  one  temple  up.  A  piece  of  chamois 
skin  was  placed  under  the  metal  disc  of  the  algometer 
to  prevent  temperature  sensations. 

The  subject  was  told  that  the  pressure  would  be 
increased  gradually  and  that  he  was  expected  to  indi¬ 
cate  the  point  at  which  he  first  began  to  feel  pain.  It 
was  carefully  explained  to  him  that  he  was  not  to  wait 
until  the  experience  was  decidedly  painful,  but  was  to 
indicate  the  point  at  which  he  could  just  begin  to 
detect  a  feeling  of  pain  in  addition  to  a  mere  pressure 
sensation.  The  ease  with  which  the  discrimination 
was  made  differed  very  widely  in  different  cases. 
Some  subjects  had  a  sudden  sharp  transition  from  mere 
pressure  to  pressure  plus  pain,  which  made  it  a  simple 
matter  to  indicate  the  advent  of  pain.  Others  had  a 


SKIN  AND  MUSCLE  SENSES 


33 


Fig.  14. 

Algometer  test.  Left  temple.1 
Abscissas  —  pressure  in  grams. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 
....  women ;  - men. 


very  gradually  increasing  feeling  of  discomfort,  almost 
from  the  beginning ;  to  mark  any  point  at  which  pain 
could  be  said  to  begin  was  extremely  difficult  —  in 

fact,  almost  arbitrary.  In 
such  cases,  there  was  no 
criterion  except  the  final 
judgment  of  the  subject 
himself.  The  test  was  re¬ 
peated  four  times  on  each 
temple.  The  results  which 
appear  in  the  curves  are 
averages  of  the  four  read¬ 
ings.  Sometimes  the  right 
temple  was  taken  first,  and 
sometimes  the  left.  A  period  of  four  or  five  minutes’ 
rest  was  allowed  between  the  two. 

The  curves  for  the  two  temples  (Figs.  14  and  15) 
arealike  in  general  outline. 

In  both  cases  the  interpre¬ 
tation  of  the  curve,  as  a 
whole,  is  lower  pain  thresh¬ 
olds  for  the  women  than 
for  the  men;  but  it  is  also 
true  that  both  curves  show 
more  men  than  women 
with  very  low  thresholds. 

In  general,  more  women 
than  men  are  found  in  the 
middle  ranges,  and  more  men  than  women  at  both 
extremes,  but  the  preponderance  of  men  is  most 
marked  in  the  region  of  high  thresholds. 


Algometer  test.  Right  templed 
Abscissas  —  pressure  in  grams. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 
-  -  -  -  women  ;  - men. 


'Only  twenty-four  women  are  represented  in  Figs.  14  and  15, 
because  one  woman  was  unwilling  to  submit  to  the  algometer  tests,  fear¬ 
ing  headache.  This  subject  would  probably  belong  to  the  lowest  range. 


34 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


The  interpretation  of  the  results  offers  the  same 
apparently  insurmountable  difficulties  as  that  of  all 
similar  experiments.  Does  it  mean  that  women  really 
feel  pain  more  quickly  than  men,  or  that  they  are 
more  apt  to  call  a  slightly  disagreeable  sensation 
painful  than  are  men?  There  seems  to  be  no  possible 
criterion  for  a  real  decision  of  this  question.  The  prob¬ 
lem  is  not  peculiar  to  the  comparison  of  pain  sensa¬ 
tions  of  men  and  women.  In  attempting  to  make  a 
quantitative  comparison  of  the  pain  sensations  of  any 
two  individuals  the  standard  is  absolutely  subjective, 
and  must  be  accepted  as  such.  It  must  in  consequence 
be  admitted  that  quantitative  measurements  of  pain  are 
less  capable  of  control  and  consequently  less  reliable 
than  most  quantitative  measurements  of  sensation  pro¬ 
cesses.  But  this  fact  does  not  justify  the  assumption  of 
a  difference  in  pain  standard  on  the  part  of  different 
classes  of  individuals.  As  far  as  we  are  capable  of 
interpreting  the  results  obtained,  they  indicate  some¬ 
what  greater  sensitiveness  to  pain  on  the  part  of 
women  than  on  the  part  of  men. 

3.  Discriminative  sensibility  for  pressure  on  the  palm 
of  the  hand. —  The  apparatus  used  for  testing  the  dis¬ 
crimination  of  pressure  was  a  series  of  little  wooden 
bottles  weighted  with  shot.  The  series  consisted  of 
twenty-one  bottles  beginning  with  80  g.  and  ending 
with  100  g.  The  uneducated  hand,  in  most  cases  the 
left,  was  used  for  the  test.  The  hand  was  supported 
on  padding  as  comfortably  as  possible  and  was  per¬ 
fectly  relaxed.  It  had  to  be  placed  in  such  a  position 
that  it  offered  a  flat  space  large  enough  to  allow  of 
setting  the  bottles  upright.  A  small  cork  disc  was 
placed  on  the  hand  first,  to  give  a  smooth  surface  of 


SKIN  AND  MUSCLE  SENSES 


35 


contact  and  insure  placing  the  bottles  in  approxi¬ 
mately  the  same  spot  each  time. 

The  two  weights  to  be  compared  were  placed  suc¬ 
cessively  on  the  same  spot,  and  the  subject,  whose 
eyes  were  closed,  was  asked  to  say  which  of  the  two 
was  heavier.  The  ioo-g. 
weight  was  used  as  the 
standard.  The  subject 
was  not  told  anything 
about  a  standard.  He 
was  merely  asked  to 
make  the  comparison 
between  the  two  weights 
given  him,  and  did  not 
know  that  one  of  them 
each  time  was  the  ioo-g. 
weight.  The  standard 
was  put  on  sometimes  first,  and  sometimes  second,  to 
avoid  any  constant  errors  of  order.  The  series  of  tests 
began  with  the  large  differences,  usually  80  and  ioo. 
If  these  were  judged  correctly  every  time,  a  smaller 
difference  was  tried.  The  number  of  tests  with  each 
pair  of  weights  was  increased  as  the  limit  of  discrimina¬ 
tion  was  approached.  The  point  finally  fixed  upon  as  the 
discriminative  sensibility  was  the  point  at  which  three- 
fourths  of  twelve  or  sixteen  judgments  were  correct. 

The  results  (Fig.  1 6 )  show  no  marked  difference 
between  the  men  and  the  women.  The  women  are  a 
Uttle  more  numerous  in  both  the  upper  and  the  lower 
ranges,  but  the  average  is  about  the  same  for  both 
sexes. 

4.  Discriminative  sensibility  for  lifted  weights. — The 
apparatus  used  for  testing  the  discriminative  sensi- 


Discriminative  sensibility  for  pres¬ 
sure.  Standard,  ioo  g. 
Abscissas  —  weight  just  discrimin- 
able  from  the  standard. 
Ordinates — number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women ;  - men. 


36  THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 

bility  for  lifted  weights  was  the  series  of  wooden 
bottles  used  for  the  previous  test.  The  subject  was 
required  to  lift  the  bottles  with  the  thumb  and  fore¬ 
finger  of  the  uneducated  hand — usually  the  left.  He 
sat  with  his  eyes  closed,  and  his  hand  held  in  such  a 

position  that  the  bottle  could 
be  placed  between  the  thumb 
and  forefinger.  After  lifting 
the  first  one,  he  set  it  on  the 
table,  and  it  was  at  once  re¬ 
placed  by  the  second.  For  the 
rest,  the  experiment  was  carried 
out  in  the  same  way  as  the  pre¬ 
ceding  one. 

The  results  represented  in 
Fig.  1 7  show  a  much  finer  dis¬ 
crimination  on  the  part  of  the 
men.  There  is  a  much  larger 
proportion  of  men  than  of 
women  who  can  discriminate  a 
difference  of  4  to  10  g.,  while 
the  reverse  is  true  in  the  range 
of  differences  greater  than  10  g. 
Since  the  discrimination  of 
lifted  weights  involves  princi¬ 
pally  the  joint  sensations,  this  test  is  closely  allied 
with  the  motor  tests.  The  finer  discrimination  of  the 
men  for  weights  is  in  accord  with  their  better  devel¬ 
oped  motor  ability  in  general. 

B.  SPACE  SENSATIONS. 

i .  Discrimination  of  two  points  crosswise  and  length¬ 
wise  on  the  volar  side  of  the  forearm. — Jastrovv’s  aesthesi- 
ometer  was  the  instrument  employed  for  testing  the 


Discriminative  sensibility 
forlifted  weights.  Stan¬ 
dard  100  g. 

Abscissas — weight  just  dis¬ 
criminate  from  the 
standard. 

Ordinates— number  of  sub¬ 
jects. 

-  -  -  women  ;  - men. 


SKIN  AND  MUSCLE  SENSES 


37 


discrimination  of  two  points  on  the  skin.  The  instru¬ 
ment  allowed  the  distance  between  the  two  points  to  be 
varied  from  I  mm.  to  ioo  mm.  The  region  used  was 
the  middle  of  the  volar  side  of  the  right  forearm. 
The  arm  was  supported  on  a  padding  in  a  comfortable 
position.  The  subject  was  told  that  he  would  be 
touched  in  the  region  described,  sometimes  with  one 
point  and  sometimes  with  two,  and  that  all  that  was  re¬ 
quired  of  him  was  to  tell  whether  he  felt  one  point  or 
two.  The  measurement  of  the  discrimination  crosswise 
of  the  arm  was  taken  first,  and  the  lengthwise  test 
followed  on  another  day. 

In  making  the  test,  stimulations  with  one  point  were 
frequently  inserted  in  the  series  as  a  control.  Often 
the  judgments  seemed  to  be  pure  guesses  when  the 
difference  was  really  below  the  discriminative  sensi¬ 
bility  of  the  subject.  In  these  cases  the  distance  was 
increased  until  a  reliable  judgment  could  be  made. 
In  a  few  instances  a  genuine  illusion  seemed  to  be  in¬ 
volved,  which  caused  the  judgments  to  remain  diffi¬ 
cult  and  variable  through  a  large  range  of  differences. 
All  that  could  be  done  was  to  fix  an  approximate 
point  after  a  long  series  of  experiments.  Frequently 
the  guessing  process  would  be  stopped,  or  at  least 
much  reduced  by  telling  the  subject  that  he  was  call¬ 
ing  one  point  two.  The  series  of  tests  was  begun  with 
a  difference  a  little  below  the  average  discriminative 
sensibility  and  was  increased  or  decreased  as  the  case 
demanded,  until  the  least  difference  was  found  at 
which  three-fourths  of  the  judgments  of  two  points 
out  of  twelve  or  sixteen  were  correct. 

The  women  proved  to  have  a  somewhat  finer  dis¬ 
crimination  in  the  crosswise  direction  (Fig.  1 8 )  and  a 
decidedly  finer  discrimination  in  the  lengthwise  direc- 


38 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


tion  (Fig.  19).  In  the  former  case  the  two  curves 
occupy  the  same  range.  The  difference  is  shown  by 
the  preponderance  of  women  with  a  small  discrimina¬ 
tive  sensibility  and  the  pre¬ 
ponderance  of  men  with  a 
large  discriminative  sensi¬ 
bility.  In  the  latter  case 
(the  lengthwise  discrimi¬ 
nation  the  difference  is  so 
great  that  the  two  curves 
occupy  a  different  range; 
the  women’s  curve  from  20 
to  65  mm.,  and  the  men’s 
curve  from  35  to  75  mm. 

There  are  two  factors 
which  doubtless  combine 
to  decrease  the  apparent 
difference  in  the  discriminative  sensibility  of  the  two 
sexes  in  the  tests  made  across  the  arm.  The  first  is 
that  the  curve  of  the 
arm  makes  it  very  diffi¬ 
cult  to  put  the  instru¬ 
ment  down  crosswise  in 
such  a  way  that  the  two 
points  strike  simultane¬ 
ously  and  exert  the  same 
pressure.  Inequalities 
of  time  and  pressure 
are  therefore  much 
more  likely  to  assist 

the  judgment  in  the  crosswise  test  than  in  the  length¬ 
wise.  The  second  factor  is  that  the  structure  of  the 
arm  is  much  more  differentiated  crosswise  than  it  is 


Fig.  18. 

Aisthesiometer  test.  Crosswise. 
Abscissas — millimeters  between 
the  two  points. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 
- -  women  ;  -  men. 


Fig.  19. 

Aisthesiometer  test.  Lengthwise. 
Abscissas  —  millimeters  between  the 
two  points. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

- women  ;  - men. 


SKIN  AND  MUSCLE  SENSES 


39 


lengthwise.  If  one  point  rests  on  one  tendon  and  the 
other  on  another  it  is  easy  to  distinguish  two  points  by 
an  indirect  judgment,  because  the  difference  between 
the  two  tendons  is  already  known.  The  judgment 
ceases  to  be  a  pure  skin  discrimination  and  becomes  a 
complex  judgment  based  on  other  sorts  of  experience. 
In  the  lengthwise  test,  on  the  other  hand,  the  two 
points  fall  upon  a  homogeneous  substructure,  a  single 
muscle  or  tendon,  and  the  discrimination  is  much 
more  nearly  a  pure  skin  judgment. 

2.  Discrimination  of  areas  on  the  volar  side  of  the 
forearm.  —  The  apparatus  used  for  determining  the 
discriminative  sensibility  of  the  skin  for  area  was 
a  series  of  five  cork  blocks  about  3  mm.  thick,  varying 
in  size  from  10  mm.  square  to  20  mm.  square.  A  pre¬ 
liminary  test  was  made  with  the  blocks  all  weighted 
to  the  same  amount  —  20  g.  It  was  found  that  in 
this  case  the  smallest  block  felt  so  much  heavier 
than  the  largest  that  the  difference  in  pressure  inter¬ 
fered  seriously  with  the  judgment  of  size.  Either  the 
smaller  block  was  called  larger,  because  the  factor  of 
pressure  was  not  clearly  separated  from  that  of  size, 
or  the  subject  reported  himself  unable  to  make  any 
reliable  size  judgment  because  of  the  disturbing  differ¬ 
ence  in  weight.  With  the  hope  of  remedying  this  evil 
the  blocks  were  then  weighted  proportionately  to  their 
area,  so  that  equal  amounts  of  pressure  should  be 
exerted  on  equal  skin  areas  in  all  stimulations.  This 
attempt  was  only  partly  successful.  The  smallest 
block  now  felt  lighter  than  the  largest.  The  series  of 
tests  was  nevertheless  carried  out  with  the  latter 
blocks,  because  the  difference  of  pressure  was  much 
smaller  with  them  than  with  the  former ;  but  the 


4°  THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 

results  cannot  be  regarded  as  entirely  reliable.  Until 
the  relation  of  pressure  and  area  in  judgments  of  area 
on  the  skin  has  been  made  the  object  of  special  inves¬ 
tigation,  and  series  of  areas  weighted  to  produce  equal 
sensations  of  pressure  have  been  determined,  no  thor¬ 
oughly  reliable  results  in  this 
field  can  be  obtained.  This 
series  of  tests,  as  well  as  all 
previous  investigation,  suffers 
from  this  defect. 

The  area  of  skin  employed 
for  the  discrimination  of  size 
was  the  same  as  that  used  for 
the  touch  and  space  thresh¬ 
olds —  the  middle  of  the 
volar  side  of  the  right  forearm. 
This  experiment,  like  that  for 
the  touch  threshold,  was  made 
during  the  time  required  for 
the  fatigue  of  the  retina  for 
the  threshold  of  light  (see  p. 
7 6).  The  method  was  that 
used  for  all  the  experiments 
in  discriminative  sensibility ;  two  areas  were  applied 
successively,  and  the  subject  was  asked  to  report  each 
time  which  of  the  two  felt  larger.  The  series  began 
with  the  largest  difference  and  worked  down  to  the 
smallest  difference,  regarding  which  three-fourths  of 
the  judgments  out  of  twelve  or  sixteen  were  correct. 

The  curves  presenting  the  results  of  the  test  (Fig. 
20)  show  a  somewhat  better  discrimination  for  area  on 
the  part  of  the  men.  Their  curve  culminates  at  15,  and 
that  of  the  women  at  12.5.  The  outer  limits  of  the 
two  curves  are  the  same. 


Discriminative  sensibility  for 
area.  Standard,  a  block 
20  mm.  square,  weighing 
20  g. 

Abscissas  —  size  of  the  block 
just  discriminable  from 
the  standard. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  sub¬ 
jects. 

-  -  -  -  women  ;  - men. 


SKIN  AND  MUSCLE  SENSES 


41 


C.  TEMPERATURE  SENSATIONS. 

The  only  aspect  of  temperature  sensation  experi¬ 
mented  upon  was  that  of  the  discriminative  sensibility. 
It  was  tested  with  three  different  standards  :  one 
near  the  physiological  zero,  30°  C.;  one  approaching 
the  pain  threshold  for  cold,  50  C.;  and  one  in  the 
region  of  the  pain  threshold  for  heat,  450  C. 

The  method  of  giving  the  stimulus  was  the  same  in 
all  three  cases,  viz.,  immersing  the  first  two  fingers  of 
the  right  hand  to  the  second  joint  in  water.  To  facili¬ 
tate  preserving  a  constant  temperature,  a  large  mass  of 
water  was  used.  The  apparatus  consisted  of  two  large 
zinc  basins,  eighteen  inches  long,  ten  inches  wide,  and 
six  inches  deep.  They  were  filled  to  within  an  inch 
of  the  top  The  basins  were  covered  with  asbestos 
jackets  to  prevent  changes  of  temperature.  Asbestos 
lids  with  openings  for  the  thermometer  and  for  the 
immersion  of  the  fingers  covered  the  basins.  The 
thermometers,  reading  tenths  of  a  degree,  were 
hung  very  close  to  the  place  where  the  fingers  were 
immersed,  to  insure  the  recording  of  the  temperature 
of  the  water  actually  used  in  the  stimulation.  Each 
basin  was  set  on  a  tripod,  and  supplied  with  a  Bunsen 
burner  for  changing  the  temperature.  For  the  cold 
stimulation,  ice  was  used.  The  temperature  changed 
very  slowly,  and  by  leaving  a  low  flame,  experimen¬ 
tally  determined,  under  the  basin,  it  was  possible  to 
keep  the  temperature  constant  through  considerable 
periods  of  time.  The  changes  of  temperature  required 
some  time  and  patience.  They  could  be  produced 
rapidly  enough,  but  it  was  difficult  to  bring  them  to  a 
standstill  at  exactly  the  point  required  for  the  test. 
To  economize  time,  the  intervals  required  for  chang- 


42 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


ing  the  temperature  were  employed  by  the  subjects  in 
writing  their  answers  to  the  questions  on  general  infor¬ 
mation  (see  chap,  vii,  sec.  D),  and  in  sorting  the 
worsteds  for  the  test  on  color-blindness  (see  chap, 
vi,  sec.  D).  It  required  from  half  an  hour  to  an  hour 

to  determine  the  dis¬ 
criminative  sensibility 
with  each  standard. 

The  method  of  mak¬ 
ing  the  discrimination 
was  the  same  as  that 
used  in  the  other  tests. 
The  subject  was  told  to 
put  his  fingers  first  in¬ 
to  one  basin  and  then 
into  the  other,  and  tell 
which  felt  the  warmer. 
The  fingers  were  dried 
after  each  discrimina¬ 
tion,  and  time  was 
allowed  for  the  effects  of  the  extreme  stimuli  to  dis¬ 
appear.  It  was  not  possible  to  make  so  many  judg¬ 
ments  for  each  stimulus  difference  as  in  the  case  of 
the  other  skin  discriminations,  partly  because  the 
effects  of  the  extreme  stimuli  are  so  lasting  that  only 
a  few  tests  can  be  made  without  long  rest  intervals, 
and  partly  because  it  was  impossible  to  hold  the  tem¬ 
perature  absolutely  constant  for  many  tests  at  a  time. 
Consequently,  three  correct  judgments  out  of  four,  or 
at  most  four  out  of  six,  were  regarded  as  decisive.  If 
further  tests  threw  doubt  on  the  accuracy  of  any 
determination,  the  same  stimulus  difference  was  tried 
a  second  time. 


Discriminative  sensibility  for  tempera¬ 
ture.  At  the  physiological  zero. 
Standard,  30°  C. 

Abscissas  —  temperature  just  discrim- 
inable  from  standard. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

- women;  - men. 


SKIN  AND  MUSCLE  SENSES 


43 


Since  the  order  in  which  the  stimuli  are  given  is  a 
very  important  factor  in  temperature  discriminations, 
great  care  was  taken  to  see  that  an  equal  number  of 
judgments  was  made  in  each  order.  The  summation 
of  stimuli  which  tends  to  make  the  second  stimulus 
feel  more  intense  than  the  first 
is  more  marked  in  temperature 
than  in  any  other  sense.  The 
difference  required  to  make  the 
more  intense  stimulus  feel  more 
intense  when  it  was  given  first 
was  frequently  very  large  in 
the  cold  and  hot  ranges,  where¬ 
as  when  it  came  second,  a  very 
slight  difference  was  sufficient. 

In  fact,  when  the  two  were  of 
the  same  temperature,  or  the 
second  a  little  less  intense,  the 
second  was  judged  more  in¬ 
tense.  In  the  form  of  tempera¬ 
ture  test  in  which  the  subject  is  allowed  to  put  his 
fingers  back  and  forth  from  one  basin  to  the  other, 
much  smaller  absolute  differences  can  be  discrimi¬ 
nated  than  those  reported  in  this  test,  but  the  judg¬ 
ment  made  is  not  a  simple  sense  discrimination 
comparable  with  those  made  in  the  other  senses.  For 
example,  if  a  discrimination  with  two  very  cold  tem¬ 
peratures  is  being  made,  and  the  subject  is  allowed  to 
have  each  stimulation  but  once  for  each  judgment,  he 
will  say  that  the  second  one  is  colder  each  time,  but 
that  the  difference  in  temperature  is  much  greater  in 
one  order  than  in  the  other;  and  that  he  therefore 
believes  that  the  basin  which  when  second  is  a  colder 


Discriminative  sensibility 
for  temperature.  Cold. 
Standard,  5°  C. 

Abscissas  —  temperature 
just  discriminable  from 
standard. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  sub¬ 
jects. 

-  -  -  -  women ;  - men. 


4+ 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


second,  is  really  colder.  The  same  process  in  less 
conscious  form  is  what  takes  place  when  the  subject 
is  allowed  to  change  back  and  forth  from  one  basin  to 
the  other.  Each  stimulus,  as  he  gets  it,  feels  colder 
than  the  previous  one,  but  the  difference  is  much 

more  intense  when  he 
goes  from  the  really 
less  intense  to  the 
more  intense  than 
when  he  goes  in  the 
opposite  direction. 
He  reaches  a  correct 
judgment  as  to  which 
is  colder,  but  the  judg¬ 
ment  is  not  a  simple 
temperature  discrimi¬ 
nation  ;  it  is  an  indirect  judgment.  The  absolute  values 
obtained  for  temperature  discrimination  are  therefore 
largely  dependent  on  the  method.  The  results  differ 
with  the  method  far  more  in  the  extreme  temperatures 
than  in  those  near  the  physiological  zero.  The  pres¬ 
ent  results  represent  simple  temperature  discrimina¬ 
tions,  and  show  correspondingly  large  values  for  the 
discriminative  sensibility  in  extreme  temperatures. 

The  curves  for  the  temperature  tests  (Figs.  21-23) 
show  very  slight  variation  in  the  sensibility  of  the 
two  sexes.  At  the  physiological  zero  no  distinction 
can  be  made.  In  the  two  extreme  temperatures  the 
women  have  a  slight  advantage.  They  are  grouped 
somewhat  more  toward  the  region  of  fine  discrimina¬ 
tions,  but  the  difference  is  scarcely  large  enough  to 
be  regarded  as  significant. 


Discriminative  sensibility  for  tempera¬ 
ture.  Hot.  Standard,  450  C. 
Abscissas  —  temperature  just  discrimin- 
able  from  standard. 

Ordinates — number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women ;  - men. 


SKIN  AND  MUSCLE  SENSES 


45 


SUMMARY  OF  OTHER  EXPERIMENTAL  WORK  ON  SKIN 
AND  MUSCLE  SENSES. 

There  are  no  results  directly  comparable  with  the 
test  on  the  threshold  for  impact.  The  so-called  meas¬ 
ure  of  the  fineness  of  touch  in  the  Italian  investiga¬ 
tions  (Lombroso,  Ottolenghi,  Di  Mattei)  is  an  aesthe- 
siometer  test.  The  experiments  on  general  sensibility, 
however,  are  often  considered  to  be  a  measure  of  the 
delicacy  of  tactile  sensations.  Ottolenghi  (66)  calls 
general  sensibility  a  sort  of  contact  sensation.  Its 
measure  is  the  least  amount  of  a  faradic  current 
which  can  be  perceived.  Lombroso  (51,  chap,  iii) 
reports  that  women  have  a  less  keen  general  sensi¬ 
bility  than  men,  while  Dehn  (20)  experimenting  with 
a  small  number  of  individuals,  and  Ottolenghi  (66) 
from  returns  on  eight  hundred  women  and  six  hun¬ 
dred  men,  agree  that  women  have  a  keener  general 
sensibility  than  men.  Di  Mattei  (21)  corroborates 
this  result  for  children  of  from  four  to  twelve  years. 
Griffin  (31)  has  shown  that  sensitiveness  to  electrical 
stimulation  and  sensitiveness  to  pressure  stimulation 
do  not  necessarily  vary  together.  It  is  therefore 
impossible  to  argue  directly  from  keener  general  sen¬ 
sibility  to  more  acute  touch. 

There  is  a  much  greater  mass  of  material  for  the 
comparison  of  men  and  women  with  reference  to  sen¬ 
sitiveness  to  pain.  Two  methods  of  inducing  pain  have 
been  employed ;  one  by  electrical  stimulation  and  the 
other  by  pressure.  Lombroso  (50,  51),  Ottolenghi 
(66),  Di  Mattei  (21),  and  Dehn  (20)  used  the  former 
method.  The  three  Italians,  the  first  two  working 
with  adults,  and  the  last  with  children  of  from  four  to 
twelve  years,  all  find  the  female  less  sensitive  to  pain 


46 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


through  electrical  stimulation  than  the  male,  while 
Dehn  finds  women  more  sensitive  than  men.  The 
former  result  is  based  on  a  far  greater  mass  of  results 
than  the  latter. 

The  experiments  made  by  the  second  method,  pain 
through  pressure,  all  agree  with  the  present  series  of 
tests  in  showing  a  lower  threshold  for  women  than  for 
men.  Wissler  (82)  and  MacDonald  (54)  experi¬ 
mented  on  adults,  Carman  (16)  on  children,  and 
Swift  (78)  on  both  adults  and  children.  The  relation 
holds  for  all  ages. 

There  is  but  one  comparative  test  on  passive  pres¬ 
sure,  that  made  by  Dehn  (20).  He  used  an  error 
method  instead  of  a  gradation  method,  but  his  results 
agree  with  ours  in  showing  no  difference  between  the 
sexes  in  this  respect. 

The  ability  to  discriminate  lifted  weights  was 
found  by  Gilbert  (quoted  by  MacDonald,  55,  p. 
1107)  to  be  greater  in  boys  than  in  girls  between  the 
ages  of  thirteen  and  seventeen,  a  result  which  corrob¬ 
orates  ours.  Wolfe  (83)  in  experimenting  on  the 
effects  of  size  on  judgments  of  lifted  weights,  finds 
women  much  more  subject  to  illusion  than  men.  Gil¬ 
bert  (30)  finds  the  same  difference  between  boys  and 
girls.  Both  are  inclined  to  explain  the  fact  by  the 
greater  suggestibility  of  the  female.  If  it  is  true, 
however,  that  the  actual  ability  to  discriminate  lifted 
weights  is  less  in  women  than  in  men,  this  may  explain 
in  part  the  fact  that  they  are  more  subject  to  the  size- 
weight  illusion  than  men. 

Other  forms  of  test  on  the  perception  of  weight 
do  not  agree  with  the  discriminative  tests  in  showing 
less  accuracy  on  the  part  of  women.  Wissler  (82) 


SKIN  AND  MUSCLE  SENSES 


47 


reports*  a  test  in  which  the  subject  was  required  to  lift 
against  a  spring  to  i  kg.  as  a  standard,  and  then 
attempt  to  lift  the  same  amount  several  times  from 
memory.  He  found  no  difference  in  the  ability  of 
men  and  women  to  do  this.  Jastrow  (38)  required 
his  subjects  to  estimate  a  pound  and  an  ounce  in  shot 
with  no  guide  or  standard.  He  found  women  more 
accurate  than  men.  The  results  suggest  the  general¬ 
ization  that  men  excel  women  in  the  direct  discrimina¬ 
tion  of  lifted  weights,  but  are  equaled  or  excelled  by 
women  in  tests  where  the  memory  of  a  given  weight 
is  involved ;  but  no  stress  can  be  laid  on  such  a  state¬ 
ment  until  more  data  are  available. 

There  are  several  comparative  tests  at  hand  on  two- 
point  discriminations.  Galton  (27),  Dehn  (20),  Lom- 
broso  (5  1,  chap,  iii,  50)  and  the  Columbia  University 
tests  (82)  dealt  with  adults.  Galton  measured  about 
1,200  men  and  women  on  the  nape  of  the  neck,  using  a 
method  like  that  of  the  present  test.  His  results  are 
in  accord  with  ours  in  showing  a  finer  discrimination 
on  the  part  of  the  women.  Dehn’s  test  and  those  on 
Columbia  students  failed  to  show  any  difference  of 
sex  in  this  respect.  The  method  used  is  probably  a 
sufficient  explanation  for  the  fact  in  both  cases.  The 
aesthesiometer  points  were  kept  a  fixed  distance  apart, 
and  the  right  and  wrong  answers  on  a  small  number 
of  stimulations  were  recorded.  The  results  thus 
yielded  are  too  meager  to  give  any  reliable  measure¬ 
ment.  Lombroso,  experimenting  on  100  normal  men 
and  100  normal  women,  finds  women  less  sensitive  than 
men.  His  subjects  were  of  varying  ages  and  social  con¬ 
ditions,  but  he  states  that  the  general  relation  holds 
also  for  men  and  women  of  the  educated  class.  He 


48 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


does  not  describe  his  method.  The  fact  that  in  sev¬ 
eral  other  respects  his  results  are  contradictory  to 
those  of  other  observers,  makes  one  hesitate  to  lay 
much  stress  on  this  discrepancy.  There  are  two 
aesthesiometer  tests  on  children,  that  by  MacDonald 
(55,  p.  1005)  made  on  the  palmar  surface  of  the  wrist, 
and  that  by  Di  Mattei  (21)  made  on  the  index  finger. 
MacDonald’s  method,  and  presumably  Di  Mattei’s, 
though  he  is  less  explicit,  were  analogous  to  ours. 
Both  sets  of  results  agree  with  ours  in  showing  the 
female  to  have  a  finer  discrimination  of  two  points 
than  the  male. 

There  are  no  previous  data  known  to  the  author 
on  the  comparative  ability  of  the  sexes  to  discrimi¬ 
nate  area  on  the  skin.  One  would  expect  to  find 
that  the  class  with  the  finer  two-point  discrimination 
was  also  the  one  with  the  greater  ability  to  discriminate 
area  on  the  skin,  but  this  does  not  hold  in  the  present 
case.  Since  the  discrimination  of  area  is  a  complicated 
judgment  involving  several  factors,  it  is  by  no  means 
sure  that  it  need  be  correlated  with  a  two-point  discrim¬ 
ination.  If  the  two  results  are  contradictory,  doubt 
should  be  thrown  on  the  test  in  the  discrimination  of 
area  rather  than  on  the  aesthesiometer  test,  since  the 
conditions  of  the  former  were  much  less  satisfactory 
than  those  of  the  latter. 

There  are  two  tests  on  temperature  discrimination 
in  which  a  comparison  of  the  sexes  has  been  made; 
one  by  Dehn  (20)  on  adults,  and  one  by  MacDonald 
(55,  p.  1005)  on  school  children.  The  method  in  both 
cases  differed  from  that  employed  in  the  present  tests. 
It  consisted  in  stimulation  of  the  skin  by  metal  surfaces 
of  known  temperature.  Dehn  used  successive  stimu- 


SKIN  AND  MUSCLE  SENSES 


49 


lations  and  MacDonald  simultaneous  stimulations. 
Dehn’s  temperatures  were  near  the  physiological  zero. 
MacDonald  gives  no  standard,  but  one  of  the  stimuli 
was  certainly  above  the  physiological  zero,  since  the 
test  is  called  a  discrimination  of  heat.  Dehn  finds 
women  more  sensitive  than  men.  MacDonald  finds 
boys,  on  the  whole,  slightly  more  sensitive  than  girls. 
The  present  tests  show  no  difference  of  sex.  It  seems 
safe  to  conclude  that  sexual  differences  in  ability  to 
discriminate  temperatures  are  very  insignificant,  if  they 
exist  at  all. 

GENERAL  SUMMARY  OF  EXPERIMENTS  ON  SKIN  AND 
MUSCLE  SENSES. 

The  general  outcome  of  the  experimentation  on  the 
sensations  mediated  by  the  skin  is  to  show  that  women 
have  somewhat  keener  senses  than  men.  This  state¬ 
ment  does  not  hold  for  all  forms  of  sensation.  The 
greater  sensibility  of  women  is  marked  in  the  two-point 
discrimination,  in  general  sensibility,  and  in  sensitive¬ 
ness  to  pain  through  pressure  ;  and  is  slight  in  delicacy 
of  touch.  In  passive-pressure  discrimination  and  in 
temperature  there  is  no  difference.  In  pain  through 
electrical  stimulation,  the  discrimination  of  lifted 
weights,  and  possibly,  in  the  discrimination  of  area  on 
the  skin,  men  are  more  sensitive. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

TASTE  AND  SMELL. 

The  experiments  in  taste  and  smell  dealt  with  the 
following  subjects : 

A.  Taste. 

1.  Threshold  of  presence1  for  sweet,  salt,  sour,  and  bitter. 

2.  Threshold  of  recognition1  for  sweet,  salt,  sour,  and  bitter. 

3.  Discriminative  sensibility  at  T2. 

4.  Discriminative  sensibility  for  strong  tastes  (viz.,  those  of 
series  B  of  Table  VIII). 

B.  Smell. 

1.  Threshold  of  presence  for  cloves  and  violet. 

2.  Threshold  of  recognition  for  cloves  and  violet. 

3.  Discriminative  sensibility  at  T2. 

4.  Discriminative  sensibility  for  strong  odors  (viz.,  those  of 
series  B  of  Table  IX). 


A.  TASTE. 

The  substances  used  for  the  four  tastes  were  sac¬ 
charin,  chemic-ally  pure  salt,  sulphuric  acid,  and  sul¬ 
phate  of  quinine.  Two  series  of  solutions  in  distilled 
water  were  prepared  from  each  substance.  Series  A 
began  below  the  normal  threshold  of  presence  and 
extended  above  the  average  threshold  of  recognition. 
Series  B  consisted  of  solutions  which  were  all  strong 
to  the  normal  taste.  The  limits  of  the  series,  and  the 
gradations  necessary  in  each  one  were  determined 
experimentally.  The  bottles  containing  the  solutions 

1  The  term  “  threshold  of  presence  ”  is  sometimes  represented  in  this 
chapter  by  the  symbol  Tj,  and  the  term  “threshold  of  recognition”  by 
the  symbol  T2. 


TASTE  AND  SMELL 


5i 


were  all  alike  in  appearance.  The  series  of  solutions, 
in  percentages,  are  given  in  Table  VIII. 

No  attempt  was  made  to  control  the  temperature  of 
the  solutions  anymore  closely  than  the  temperature  of 
the  room. 

TABLE  VIII. 

Series  of  solutions  used  in  testing  taste. 


Sweet. 

Salt. 

Sour. 

Bitter. 

A 

B 

A 

B 

A 

B 

A 

B 

I 

.0005# 

.025# 

.01$ 

2 

% 

.001$ 

.017$ 

.00004$ 

.001  $ 

2 

.00075 

.027 

.04 

2 

05 

.003 

.018 

.00008 

.0012 

3 

.001 

.029 

.08 

2 

I 

.005 

.019 

.0001 

.0014 

4 

.0015 

.031 

.  I 

2 

•  is 

.006 

.02 

.0002 

.0016 

5 

.002 

•033 

.11 

2 

2 

.007 

.021 

.0003 

.0018 

6 

.0025 

•035 

.  12 

2 

3 

.008 

.022 

.0004 

.002 

7 

.003 

•037 

•  13 

2 

4 

.009 

.023 

.0005 

.0022 

8 

.0035 

•°39 

.14 

2 

5 

.01 

.0006 

.0024 

9 

.004 

■  15 

2 

6 

.01  I 

.0007 

.0026 

10 

.0045 

.  l6 

.012 

.0008 

II 

.005 

.18 

.013 

12 

.  2 

13 

.22 

I  and  2.  Thresholds  of  prese?ice  and  of  recognition. 
—  The  two  thresholds  of  presence  and  of  recognition 
were  obtained  by  the  same  method  and  in  the  same 
series  of  experiments.  The  subject  was  seated  with 
his  back  to  the  table  containing  the  bottles,  in  order 
that  he  might  not  see  which  bottles  in  a  series  were 
taken.  He  was  given  a  cup  containing  distilled  water 
and  was  told  that  it  was  distilled  water  and  would  be 
his  standard  of  comparison.  The  distilled  water  was 
not  tasteless  to  most  subjects,  but  tasted  differently  to 
different  individuals.  Sometimes  it  seemed  sweet, 
sometimes  bitter,  and  rarely  salty  or  sour.  In  spite  of 
the  subjective  tastes  assigned  to  the  distilled  water  it 


52 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


Fig.  24. 

Taste.  Tj  for  sweet. 

Abscissas  —  percentage  of  the  solu¬ 
tions. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women  ;  - men. 


seemed  necessary  to  use  it  as  a  basis  for  the  solutions. 
It  would  have  been  extremely  difficult,  if  not  impossible, 
to  find  any  one  solution  which  would  be  pronounced 

tasteless  by  all  subjects. 
Since  the  distilled  water 
was  constantly  before 
the  subject  as  a  standard 
of  comparison,  the  neces* 
Ar  sity  for  having  a  solution 
to  start  with  which  was 
subjectively  tasteless  was 
lessened.  All  the  sub¬ 
ject  was  required  to  tell 
about  the  solutions  given 
him  was  whether  or  not  they  were  the  same  as  the 
distilled  water,  and  if  not,  how  they  differed. 

Since  taste  is  a  sense  ? 
which,  like  smell,  is  pe¬ 
culiarly  subject  to  illu¬ 
sions  at  the  threshold, 
the  subject  was  given 
two  bottles  at  each  test, 
one  of  which  contained 
distilled  water,  and  the 
other  a  weak  solution. 

When  a  difference  from 
the  distilled  water  of 
the  cup  was  reported, 
the  subject  was  asked 
in  which  bottle  he  no¬ 
ticed  it.  If  it  was  an  illusion,  it  was  quite  as  likely 
to  be  referred  to  the  distilled  water  bottle  as  to  the 
solution.  Often  the  subject  said  that  both  bottles 


Fig.  25. 

Taste.  Tj  for  salt. 

Abscissas  —  percentage  of  the  solu¬ 
tions. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

- women  ;  - men. 


TASTE  AND  SMELL 


53 


were  different  from  the  distilled  water.  If  they  seemed 
equally  different,  it  was  again  counted  as  an  illusion. 
If  the  bottle  containing  the  solution  was  reported  more 

different  from  the  standard 
than  the  bottle  containing  dis¬ 
tilled  water,  the  discrimination 
was  regarded  as  genuine,  but 
a  threshold  was  determined 
only  after  three  correct  judg¬ 
ments  out  of  four. 

The  order  of  procedure 
was  as  follows :  The  subject 
was  provided  with  a  cup  of 
distilled  water  and  a  teaspoon. 
A  jar  was  placed  beside  him, 
and  he  was  told  not  to  swal¬ 
low  the  solution  unless  he 
wished.  Two  bottles  just  alike 
in  appearance  were  placed  before  him,  and  he  was 
directed  to  taste  the  distilled  water  in  the  cup  first, 
and  then  taste  half  a  tea¬ 
spoonful  of  the  liquid  in 
each  bottle.  He  was  told 
that  he  must  make  the 
solution  touch  all  parts 
of  the  tongue  in  tasting, 
since  not  all  parts  were 
equally  sensitive.  After 
tasting  each  solution 
once,  he  was  required  to 
tell  which  one,  if  either, 
differed  from  the  distilled  water  of  the  cup.  Both 
bottles  were  then  removed,  and  two  more  given  him. 


Taste.  Tx  for  sour. 

Abscissas  —  percentage  of  the 
solutions. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  sub¬ 
jects. 

....  women  ;  - men. 


Taste.  Tt  for  bitter. 

Abscissas — percentage  of  the  solutions. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

- women  ;  - men. 


5+ 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


Taste.  Ta  for  sweet. 
Abscissas  —  percentage  of  the 
solutions. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  sub¬ 
jects. 

- -  women  ;  - men. 


The  tests  always  began  with  the  weakest  solutions,  and 
worked  up  to  the  place  where  the  discrimination  from 
distilled  water  could  be  made.  This  procedure  is  par¬ 
ticularly  necessary  in  taste 
and  smell,  because  the  nerves 
become  fatigued  so  rapidly 
that  it  would  be  impossible 
for  most  subjects  to  detect 
the  weaker  solutions  when  the 
stronger  ones  had  just  been 
perceived.  After  reaching  the 
point  at  which  the  subject  was 
sure  he  could  detect  some¬ 
thing  in  the  solution  (T,),  the 
same  process  was  continued 
until  he  was  able  to  identify  the  taste  (T2). 

The  curves  for  the  threshold  of  presence  (Figs.  24- 
27)  show  a  lower  threshold  for  the  women  in  all  four 
tastes.  The  difference  is 
most  marked  in  bitter,  sec¬ 
ond  in  sour,  third  in  salt, 
and  least  in  sweet. 

As  regards  the  thresh¬ 
old  of  recognition  (Figs. 

28-31)  the  women  are  un¬ 
questionably  more  sensitive 
to  sour  and  bitter.  In  salt 
thewomen’scurveis  slightly 
better.  It  has  more  entries 
in  the  region  of  very  low 
thresholds,  and  no  cases  which  fall  beyond  the  limits 
of  the  series.  The  curve  for  sweet  averages  about  the 
same  for  both  sexes.  Both  the  best  records  and  the 
worst  are  those  of  women. 


Fig.  29. 

Taste.  T2  for  salt. 

Abscissas  —  percentage  of  the 
solutions. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 
- -  women  ;  - men. 


TASTE  AND  SMELL 


55 


V 


cvi  'ey 

Fig.  30. 

Taste.  Ta  for  sour.1 
Abscissas  —  percentage  of  the  solu¬ 
tions. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women  :  - men. 


3  and  4.  Discriminative  sensibility. —  The  discrimina¬ 
tive  sensibility  for  taste  was  tested  with  two  stand¬ 
ards.  The  first  was  the  solution  marking  each  subject’s 

threshold  of  recognition, 
the  second  was  identical 
for  all  subjects,  viz.,  the 
first  solution  in  series  B 
of  Table  VIII.  The  sub¬ 
ject  sat  as  for  the  previ¬ 
ous  test.  Two  bottles 
were  set  before  him,  and 
he  was  required  to  judge 
which  of  the  two  solu¬ 
tions  was  the  stronger. 
The  mouth  was  rinsed 
with  distilled  water  after  each  discrimination. 

Since  the  standard  stimulus  for  the  first  discrimi¬ 
nation  was  the  solution  marking  each  subject’s  thresh¬ 
old  of  recognition,  a  compari¬ 
son  of  results  is  difficult.  The 
thresholds  of  recognition  were 
scattered  over  a  wide  range, 
and  there  proved  to  be  so  small 
a  number  of  men  and  women 
having  the  same  standard  that 
there  are  not  sufficient  data  for 
a  comparison.  What  few  rec¬ 
ords  are  comparable  show  no 
marked  differences,  but  they 
are  too  few  in  number  to  be  of 
any  significance.  A  comparison  by  percentages  was 


.lie  3 


Fig.  31. 


Taste.  Ta  for  bitter. 


Abscissas  —  percentage 
the  solutions. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  sub 
jects. 

-  -  -  -  women  ;  - men. 


of 


■Only  twenty-four  men  are  represented  in  this  diagram, 
record  was  not  taken. 


One 


56 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


not  feasible  because  the  gradations  of  the  taste  series 
were  not  sufficiently  fine  to  warrant  it. 


Taste  discrimination.  Sweet.  Stand¬ 
ard,  .025  Per  cent,  solution  of  sac¬ 
charin.1 

Abscissas — percentage  of  the  solu¬ 
tions  just  discriminable  from  the 
standard. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

- women  ;  - men. 


The  discriminations 
in  the  second  series  of 
tests,  since  an  arbitrary 
standard  was  adopted, 
offer  material  which  is 
comparable.  The  stand¬ 
ard  gave  a  strong  taste 
to  all  subjects,  except 
those  abnormally  ob¬ 
tuse.  The  method  of 
making  the  discrimina¬ 
tion  was  the  same  as 
that  described  for  the 


previous  series. 

The  results  of  the  tests  on  the  discrimination  of 


strong  tastes  (Figs.  32-35) 
show  that  the  men  have  a 
finer  discrimination  in  all 
tastes  but  salt,  in  which 
the  women  discriminated 
somewhat  better.  The 
general  result  agrees  very 
well  with  that  for  thresh¬ 
olds.  The  lower  the  thresh¬ 
old  for  a  given  sense  the 
coarser  the  discrimination 
in  very  strong  stimuli.  The 
same  solution  in  the  so- 


Taste  discrimination.  Salt.  Stand¬ 
ard,  2  per  cent,  solution. 

Abscissas  —  percentage  of  the  solu¬ 
tions  just  discriminable  from 
the  standard. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

....  women ;  - men. 


called  strong  series  tastes  much  stronger  to  a  subject 


1  Only  twenty- four  of  each  sex  are  represented  in  this  diagram.  Two 
records  were  not  taken. 


TASTE  AND  SMELL 


57 


with  a  low  threshold  than  to  one  with  a  high  thresh¬ 
old,  and  the  fineness  of  dis¬ 
crimination  is  correspond¬ 
ingly  reduced.  Whetheror 
not  this  cause  is  sufficient 
to  account  for  all  the  dif¬ 
ference  in  discrimination, 
it  is  impossible  to  say.  It 
might  be  that  if  we  could 
obtain  a  subjectively  iden¬ 
tical  standard  for  all  sub¬ 
jects,  we  should  still  find 
the  men  having  a  finer 
absolute  discrimination. 
However  that  may  be,  the 
fact  remains  that,  given  an  arbitrary  objective  stand¬ 
ard  in  the  region  of  strong 
tastes,  the  men  have  a  finer 
discrimination  than  the 
women. 


B.  SMELL. 

The  tests  for  smell 
were  analogous  to  those 
for  taste  as  to  apparatus 
and  method.  They  were 
made  with  two  series  of 
solutions,  one  designed  to 
determine  the  two  thresh- 


Taste  discrimination.  Sour.  Stand¬ 
ard,  .017  per  cent,  solution  of 
sulphuric  acid.1 

Abscissas — percentage  of  the  solu¬ 
tions  just  discriminable  from 
the  standard. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women ;  - men. 


Taste  discrimination.  Bitter. 
Standard,  .001  per  cent,  solu¬ 
tion  of  quinine.3 

Abscissas  —  percentage  of  the  solu¬ 
tion  just  discriminable  from 
the  standard. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 


-  -  -  -  women  ;  - men. 

'Only  twenty-four  men  are 

represented  in  this  diagram.  One  man  could  not  distinguish  sour. 

3  Only  twenty-four  women  and  twenty-two  men  are  represented  in 
this  diagram.  One  woman  and  two  men  had  thresholds  for  bitter  which 
were  above  the  standard.  One  man  could  not  distinguish  bitter  at  all. 


58  THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 

olds  of  presence  and  of  recognition,  and  the  other  to 
test  the  fineness  of  discrimination  in  the  strong  odors. 
Two  substances  were  used  :  violet  water  (Roget  and 
Gallet  violette  de  Parme ),  and  oil  of  cloves.  The  violet 
was  simply  diluted  the  required  amount  with  distilled 
water.  As  a  basal  mixture  for  the  cloves,  an  emulsion 
was  made  by  shaking  I  part  of  oil  of  cloves  in  99 
parts  of  distilled  water.  This  mixture  was  then 
diluted  to  form  the  series,  being  shaken  thoroughly 
at  each  step.  The  odors  were  both  so  persistent  that 
great  care  was  necessary  in  preparing  the  weaker 
solutions.  The  utensils  which  had  been  used  for 
stronger  solutions  had  to  be  thoroughly  cleansed  with 
alcohol  and  distilled  water  before  being  used  to 
make  the  weaker  ones.  The  solutions  were  placed 
in  glass-stoppered  bottles  all  alike,  being  prevented 
from  touching  the  necks  of  the  bottles  when  put  in. 
The  distance  between  the  surface  of  the  liquid  and 
the  mouth  of  the  bottle  was  made  constant  for  all 
the  series.  The  series  of  solutions  are  given  in 
Table  IX. 

In  the  tests  on  smell  (unlike  those  on  taste  and  all 
others  in  the  present  set  of  experiments  where  judg¬ 
ment  between  two  stimuli  formed  the  modus  operandi) 
the  subject  was  allowed  to  have  as  many  stimulations 
as  he  wished  from  each  of  the  two  bottles  given  him, 
in  the  determination  both  of  the  thresholds,  and  of 
the  discriminative  sensibility.  The  reason  for  this 
departure  in  the  case  of  smell  is  that  it  is  the  only 
sense  in  which  the  contact  between  external  stimulus 
and  nerve-ending  is  produced  so  indirectly.  The 
actual  stimulation  of  the  nerve-ending  depends  upon 


TASTE  AND  SMELL 


59 


TABLE  IX. 

Series  of  solutions  used  in  testing  smell. 


Cloves. 

Violet. 

Series  A. 

Series  B. 

Series  A. 

Series  B. 

I 

.000001# 

.001  # 

.0000001# 

1.  # 

2 

.ooooos 

.0012 

.000001 

I  .2 

3 

.00001 

.0014 

.00001 

1.4 

4 

.00005 

.0016 

.00005 

1.6 

5 

.0001 

.0018 

.0001 

1.8 

6 

.0002 

.002 

.0005 

2. 

7 

.0003 

.003 

.001 

2.2 

8 

.0004 

.004 

.01 

2.4 

9 

10 

.0006 

.0008 

the  nature  of  the  inhalation.  Two  successive  smell- 
ings  of  the  same  bottle  may  give  sensations  differing 
widely  in  intensity,  depending  on  slight  differences  in 
inhalation.  The  subject  was  directed  to  use  the  same 
nostril  for  both  stimulations  in  any  comparison,  and 
was  allowed  to  go  back  and  forth  from  one  bottle  to 
the  other,  in  the  hope  of  equalizing  the  inequalities  of 
the  single  stimulations. 

i  and  2.  Thresholds  of  presence  a?id  of  recognition. — 
The  determination  of  the  smell  thresholds  was  made 
by  a  method  like  that  used  for  the  taste  thresholds, 
but  differing  in  two  respects.  The  first  modification 
was  that  common  to  all  the  smell  tests  stated  above; 
the  second  was  that  the  subject  was  not  provided  with 
a  bottle  of  distilled  water  which  he  knew  to  be  such, 
corresponding  to  his  standard  of  reference  in  the 
experiments  on  taste.  This  did  not  seem  to  be  neces- 


6o 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


sary,  because  distilled  water  showed  no  tendency  to 
stimulate  the  nerves  of  smell  in  any  definite  direction, 
as  it  stimulated  those  of  taste. 

For  determining  the 
threshold  of  presence  two 
bottles  were  given  to  the 
subject,  one  of  which  each 
time  contained  distilled 
water.  He  then  reported 
whether  or  not  he  could 
distinguish  any  odor  in 


Smell.  Tj  for  cloves. 

Abscissas  —  number  of  the  solu¬ 
tions  (see  Table  IX). 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 
- women  ;  - men. 

the  threshold.  To  avoid 


either  bottle.  The  point 
at  which  he  could  select 
the  right  bottle  three  times 
out  of  four  was  taken  as 
the  fatigue  effects  which 
are  so  marked  in  the  sense  of  smell,  the  series  began 
with  the  weakest  solutions 
and  advanced  to  the  stronger. 

The  curves  for  the  thresh¬ 
old  of  presence  (Figs.  36  and 
37)  show  a  lower  threshold 
for  the  women,  though  the 
difference  is  slight.  It  is  in¬ 
dicated  chiefly  by  the  greater 
number  of  women  in  the 
regions  of  extremely  low 
thresholds  for  both  sexes. 

In  the  tests  for  determin¬ 
ing  the  threshold  of  recog¬ 
nition  the  subjects  were  not 
required  to  name  the  substance  used  as  stimulus,  but 
simply  to  name  the  class  to  which  the  odor  belonged. 


Smell.  Tj  for  violet. 
Abscissas  —  number  of  the 
solutions  (see  Table  IX). 
Ordinates  —  number  of  sub¬ 
jects. 

-  -  -  -  women ;  - — —  men. 


TASTE  AND  SMELL 


61 


Fig.  38. 

Smell.  T2  for  cloves. 

Abscissas  —  percentage  of  the  solu¬ 
tions. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 
....  women  ;  - men. 


“  Spicy  ”  was  called  a  recognition  for  cloves,  and  “  per¬ 
fume”  for  violet  The  effects  of  practice  would  have 
been  a  disturbing  factor  if  a  more  definite  recognition 

had  been  required,  but 
the  general  classes  of 
spice  and  perfume  are 
familiar  to  all. 

The  threshold  of  rec¬ 
ognition,  like  that  of 
presence,  is  a  little  better 
in  the  women  than  in  the 
men  (Figs.  38  and  39). 
The  women  are  some¬ 
what  more  numerous  in 
the  region  of  low  thresh¬ 
olds,  and  the  men  in  the 
region  of  high.  Again  the  difference  is  slight.  The 
objection  might  be  made  that  the  two  odors  selected, 
cloves  and  violet  water,  are 
more  likely  to  be  familiar  to 
women  than  to  men  ;  but  since 
the  recognition  required  was 
merely  of  spice  or  perfume,  it 
does  not  seem  probable  that 
the  greater  familiarity  of  the 
women  with  the  odors  could 
have  been  a  factor  in  the  re¬ 
sult.  The  subject  was  told 
that  he  need  not  name  the  sub¬ 
stance,  but  merely  describe  it 
as  best  he  could,  or  name  the 
class  of  substances  to  which  it  belonged. 

3  and  4.  Discriminative  sensibility . — Like  the  corre- 


Fig.  39. 

Smell.  Ts  for  violet. 
Abscissas  —  percentage  of 
the  solutions. 

Ordinates — number  of  sub¬ 
jects. 

-  -  -  -  women  ;  - men. 


6z 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


sponding  series  for  taste,  the  first  series  of  tests  on 
discrimination  of  odors  was  made  at  the  threshold  of 


recognition ;  and  as  in  the  case  of  taste,  so  in  that  of 


smell  the  standards  are  so  scattered  that  they  do  not 
afford  material  for  comparison.  In  the  second  series 


Smell  discrimination. 
Cloves.  Standard,  .001 
per  cent,  solution  of  oil 
of  cloves. 


of  tests  under  the  present  head, 
as  in  the  second  series  on  taste 
discrimination,  stronger  stimuli 
were  used  ;  and  as  in  that  case, 
so  in  this  the  standard  was  arbi¬ 
trary,  viz.,  the  first  solution  of 
series  B  in  Table  IX.  This  sec¬ 
ond  series  of  tests  yielded  re¬ 
sults  capable  of  comparison. 

The  method  of  making  the 


Abscissas  —  percentage  of 
the  solutions  just  dis- 
criminable  from  the 
standard. 

Ordinates — number  of 
subjects. 


discrimination  was  the  same  as 
that  usually  employed.  Two 
bottles,  one  of  which  was  the 
standard,  were  given  to  the  sub- 


- women;  — —  men.  ject,  and  he  was  asked  to  decide 

which  was  the  stronger  of  the  two.  The  only  modifi¬ 
cation  has  already  been  stated,  viz.,  that  instead  of 
being  allowed  but  one  stimulation  from  each  stimulus, 


as  in  all  other  discrimination  tests,  he  was  allowed  to 


go  back  and  forth  from  one  bottle  to  the  other  as 
often  as  he  wished.  A  period  of  several  minutes  was 
allowed  between  stimulations  for  the  recovery  of  the 


nerve. 


The  results  (Figs.  40  and  41)  show  a  somewhat  bet¬ 
ter  discrimination  in  cloves  on  the  part  of  the  women, 
while  in  violet  the  difference  is  too  slight  to  be  of  any 
significance ;  the  curves  are  almost  coincident.  The 
difference  is  probably  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  the 


TASTE  AND  SMELL 


63 


solution  of  cloves  was  much  less  intense  than  the  vio¬ 
let.  Many  of  the  thresholds  of  recognition  for  cloves 
fell  within  the  higher  series  (see  Fig.  38),  while  those 
for  violet  were  all  far  below  the  series.  The  reason 
for  the  difference  between  the  two  series  is  that  cloves 
increase  faster  in  intensity  of 
odor  with  increased  strength 
of  solution  than  violet.  A 
I  per  cent,  solution  of  cloves 
is  entirely  too  strong  to  serve 
as  the  standard  for  a  series, 
while  a  I  per  cent,  solution 
of  violet  is  usable.  In  at¬ 
tempting  to  tone  down  the 
cloves  to  a  point  where  the 
intensity  of  the  after  image 
was  not  sufficient  to  interfere 
seriously  with  discrimination, 
the  standard  was  made  far  less 
in  absolute  intensity  than  that 
of  the  violet  series.  The  fact 
that,  using  these  series,  we  find  the  women’s  discrimi¬ 
nation  better  than  the  men’s  in  cloves,  and  about  the 
same  in  violet,  accords  with  the  lower  thresholds  of 
the  women  in  both  smells.  We  find,  as  we  should 
expect,  the  class  having  the  lower  thresholds  better 
in  the  discrimination  of  odors  of  medium  intensity,  but 
not  in  the  discrimination  of  very  strong  odors. 

The  results  of  the  tests  on  taste  and  smell  may 
be  summarized  as  follows:  In  taste  the  women  have 
lower  thresholds  than  the  men  both  for  presence  and 
for  recognition  The  difference  between  the  sexes 
is  most  marked  in  sour  and  bitter,  much  less  so 


Smell  discrimination.  Violet. 
Standard,  I  per  cent,  solu¬ 
tion  of  Roget  and  Gallet 
violette  de  Par  me. 

Abscissas — percentage  of  the 
solutions  just  discriminable 
from  the  standard. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  sub¬ 
jects. 

-  -  -  -  women  ;  - men. 


64 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


in  salt,  and  very  slight  in  sweet.  The  discrimina¬ 
tive  sensibility  for  strong  tastes  is  finer  in  the  men 
in  all  tastes  except  salt,  in  which  it  is  slightly  better 
in  the  women.  The  differences  between  the  men 
and  the  women  in  smell  are  less  than  those  of  taste, 
but  are  of  the  same  order.  The  women  have  slightly 
lower  thresholds  in  smell,  both  for  presence  and 
for  recognition.  In  discriminative  sensibility  for 
strong  smells,  the  women  are  better  in  cloves,  while 
there  is  no  difference  in  violet.  The  difference  may 
be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  the  violet  series  was 
absolutely  much  stronger  than  the  clove  series.  If 
this  supposition  is  correct,  the  results  for  smell  are  in 
accord  with  those  for  taste ;  the  women  have  lower 
thresholds,  but  their  discriminative  sensibility  in  the 
strong  series  is  as  coarse  or  coarser  than  that  of  the 
men. 

SUMMARY  OF  OTHER  EXPERIMENTAL  WORK  ON  TASTE 
AND  SMELL. 

Experiments  on  the  comparative  keenness  of  the 
sense  of  taste  in  men  and  women  have  been  per¬ 
formed  by  Bailey  and  Nichols  (6),  Bailey  (7),  Lom- 
broso  (51,  chap,  iii),  Roncoroni  (7 2),  Ottolenghi  (63), 
Dehn  (20),  and  Di  Mattei  (21).  In  no  case  has 
the  method  been  so  exact  as  that  employed  in  the 
tests  here  reported.  Bailey  and  Nichols  prepared 
series  of  each  of  five  tastes  —  sweet,  salt,  bitter,  sour, 
and  alkaline.  Each  series  varied  in  intensity  from  a 
solution  below  the  threshold  to  a  strong  solution.  All 
five  series  were  mixed  together  and  the  subject  was 
required  to  sort  them  by  taste.  The  weakest  solution 
recognized  was  taken  as  the  measure  of  the  keenness 


TASTE  AND  SMELL 


6S 


of  taste.  To  obtain  a  statement  for  each  sex,  the  results 
for  each  were  averaged.  Neither  the  method  of  mak¬ 
ing  the  test  nor  the  treatment  of  results  is  above  criti¬ 
cism.  All  the  disturbing  influences  of  after  images, 
fatigue,  and  contrast  enter  into  such  a  procedure  as 
sorting  tastes  of  varying  quality  and  intensity.  Any 
or  all  of  these  factors  might  conceivably  vary  with 
sex.  Moreover,  an  average  of  results  is  not  a  fair  ex¬ 
pression  of  the  ability  of  one  class.  One  or  two  very 
abnormal  individuals  might  change  the  average  un¬ 
duly.  The  limits  within  which  the  majority  of  the 
normal  individuals  of  a  class  fall  is  the  measurement 
required.  Dehn  experimented  on  the  four  accepted 
tastes.  He  used  a  single  weak  solution  of  each  taste 
and  recorded  the  right  and  wrong  judgments. 

Dehn,  whose  test  is  perhaps  most  closely  compa¬ 
rable  with  the  present  one,  finds  women  keener  than 
men  in  all  four  tastes.  Nichols  and  Bailey,  in  their  tests 
on  American  students,  find  women  keener  than  men  in 
all  tastes  except  salt,  in  which  men  are  keener  than 
women.  Nichols  obtains  the  same  result  in  his  experi¬ 
ments  on  Indians.  Ottolenghi,  experimenting  with 
sweet,  salt,  and  bitter,  finds  women  somewhat  keener 
than  men,  but  attributes  this  fact  to  the  use  of  to¬ 
bacco  by  men  and  concludes  that  they  are  probably 
naturally  keener  than  women.  Lombroso,  using  three 
tastes,  sweet,  salt,  and  bitter,  finds  women  keener  in 
sweet  and  salt  and  less  keen  in  bitter.  Di  Mattei,  ex¬ 
perimenting  with  children  between  the  ages  of  four 
and  twelve,  finds  the  boys  more  sensitive  than  the 
girls  in  bitter,  equal  to  them  in  salt  and  less  sensitive 
in  sweet.  Roncoroni  finds  sensibility  to  sweet  keener 
in  women,  but  sensibility  to  bitter  and  salt  keener  in 


66 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


men.  The  general  result  of  all  these  tests  is  to  show 
that  women  have  lower  thresholds  for  taste  than  men. 
The  question  remains  as  to  whether  or  not  this  state¬ 
ment  holds  for  all  tastes.  Four  of  the  eight  series  of 
tests  find  an  exception  in  the  case  of  salt,  and  three 
in  the  case  of  bitter.  Since  there  is  no  agreement 
about  the  exceptions,  and  the  most  accurate  methods 
show  women  to  be  somewhat  keener  in  all  tastes,  it 
seems  probable  that  this  is  a  correct  generalization. 

In  discussions  on  the  keenness  of  taste,  the  dis¬ 
tinction  between  the  threshold  and  the  discriminative 
sensibility  has  not  always  been  observed.  It  is  ordi¬ 
narily  assumed  that  a  low  threshold  means  also  a  fine 
discriminative  sensibility — an  assumption  which  has 
no  a  priori  justification,  and  which  receives  no  support 
from  the  present  series  of  tests.  There  are  no  other 
results  on  the  discriminative  sensibility  for  strong 
tastes  to  compare  with  the  present  series,  but  if  these 
results  are  to  be  trusted,  fine  discriminative  sensibility 
for  strong  tastes  is  to  be  correlated  with  a  high  thresh¬ 
old,  rather  than  with  a  low  one.  When  it  is  argued  that 
women  cannot  have  a  finer  taste  than  men,  because  all 
the  professional  wine-  and  tea-tasters  are  men,  this  dis¬ 
tinction  is  overlooked.  The  tasting  of  wine  and  tea 
depends  on  the  ability  to  discriminate  strong  tastes. 
Threshold  tests  throw  no  light  on  this  question.  The 
tests  here  reported  show  that  men  have  a  better  dis¬ 
criminative  sensibility  for  strong  tastes  than  women, 
although  their  thresholds  are  higher  than  those  of 
women. 

There  are  on  record  eight  sets  of  experiments  on 
smell:  those  by  Bailey  and  Powell  (4),  by  Bailey  and 
Nichols  (5),  by  Ottolenghi  (64),  by  Lombroso  (51, 


TASTE  AND  SMELL 


67 


chap,  iii),  by  Toulouse  and  Vaschide  (80),  by  Garbini 
(28,  28a),  and  by  Di  Mattei  (21).  Lombroso  does 
not  state  his  method.  Bailey  and  Powell,  Bailey  and 
Nichols,  Ottolenghi,  and  Di  Mattei  used  a  method 
analogous  to  that  of  Bailey  and  Nichols  in  their 
experiments  on  taste,  viz.,  sorting  bottles.  Bailey  and 
his  co-workers  used  five  different  odors  and  all  the 
bottles  were  given  to  the  subject  at  once.  Ottolenghi 
used  but  one  odor,  and  gave  the  bottles  in  groups, 
beginning  with  the  weaker  ones.  This  procedure 
diminished  the  disturbing  factor  of  fatigue  which  is 
so  important  in  smell.  Di  Mattei  experimented  on 
children  of  from  four  to  twelve  years.  To  the  younger 
children  he  gave  the  bottles  in  two  groups,  while  to 
the  older  ones  he  gave  all  the  bottles  at  once.  Both 
Ottolenghi  and  Bailey  and  his  co-workers  find  that 
men  are  keener  than  women  in  smell,  the  latter  report¬ 
ing  that  men  are  about  twice  as  keen  as  women.  These 
results  apply  only  to  the  threshold  of  smell.  They 
are  flatly  contradictory  to  the  outcome  of  our  test, 
which  finds  what  little  difference  there  is  in  favor  of 
the  women. 

The  work  that  is  most  closely  comparable  to  that 
of  the  present  series  of  tests  in  method,  is  that  of 
Toulouse  and  Vaschide.  They  used  a  single  odor  — 
camphor  —  began  with  the  subliminal  solutions,  used 
distilled  water  as  a  control,  and  worked  up  to  the 
threshold.  Their  subjects  were  hospital  attendants. 
The  outcome  of  the  test  is  in  accord  with  ours.  They 
find  a  keener  sense  of  smell  in  women  than  in  men. 
Garbini’s  results,  cited  by  Toulouse  and  Vaschide, 
agree  with  theirs.  Di  Mattei  used  the  method  of 
arranging  intensities  of  a  single  odor  with  children, 


68 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


and  found  that  girls  could  detect  a  fainter  odor  than 
boys,  and  could  arrange  the  series  more  accurately. 
Observations  of  Garbini  (28a)  confirm  this  result. 

It  is  difficult  to  explain  the  contradiction  in  these 
two  sets  of  results.  Those  experiments  from  which 
the  factors  of  fatigue  and  contrast  are  excluded,  show 
a  keener  sense  of  smell  in  women.  Whether  the  pres¬ 
ence  of  these  factors  in  the  other  set  of  tests  is  suffi¬ 
cient  to  explain  the  difference,  it  is  impossible  to  say. 

GENERAL  SUMMARY  OF  THE  EXPERIMENTS  ON  TASTE 
AND  SMELL. 

With  reference  to  the  thresholds  for  taste  there  is 
practical  agreement  among  all  observers  that  women 
have  lower  thresholds  than  men.  The  only  tests  made 
on  discriminative  sensibility  for  strong  tastes  indicate 
that  men  are  somewhat  superior  to  women,  a  result 
which  is  in  accord  with  their  higher  threshold. 

There  is  a  decided  contradiction  in  the  results  of 
the  experiments  on  smell.  Three  of  the  previous  tests 
had  indicated  a  lower  smell  threshold  for  men  than 
for  women.  The  tests  performed  with  the  greatest 
rigor  of  method,  however  —  those  of  Toulouse  and 
Vaschide  and  those  of  the  present  series  —  show  a 
lower  smell  threshold  for  women.  No  difference  in 
discriminative  sensibility  was  demonstrated. 


CHAPTER  V. 


HEARING. 

Sensibility  to  pitch  was  the  only  aspect  of  hearing 
experimented  upon.  No  attempt  was  made  to  find 
the  threshold  for  hearing,  because  the  laboratory  was 
not  provided  with  a  sound-proof  room.  Three  deter¬ 
minations  of  sensibility  to  pitch  were  made,  as  fol¬ 
lows  : 

A.  The  upper  limit. 

B.  The  lower  limit. 

C.  Discriminative  sensibility,  with  the  512  fork  as  a  standard. 


A.  THE  UPPER  LIMIT. 

The  Galton  whistle  was  the  instrument  used  to 
investigate  the  upper  limit  of  sensibility  to  pitch. 
The  contrast  between  the 
shrill  sound  of  the  whistle 
where  the  pitch  is  perfectly 
distinct  and  the  sound  of  the 
rush  of  air  in  the  regions 
above  the  possible  limit  of 
pitch,  was  first  given  to  the 
subject.  He  was  then  told 
to  listen  carefully  to  each 
stimulation  given  him  and 
tell  whether  he  could  distin¬ 
guish  the  shrill  pitch  sound, 
or  whether  it  was  merely  the  rush  of  air.  The  number 
of  vibrations  was  gradually  increased  until  the  subject 

69 


Upper  limit  of  pitch. 

Abscissas  —  scale  readings  of 
the  Galton  whistle. 
Ordinates  —  number  of 
jects. 

—  -  women  ;  —  men. 


sub- 


70 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


lost  the  pitch,  and  was  then  decreased  until  he  heard 
it  again.  In  the  regions  near  the  limit  of  discrimina¬ 
tion  he  was  given  from  four  to  six  stimulations  for 
each  turn  of  a  division  in  the  vernier  scale,  and  the 
point  at  which  he  heard  the  pitch  three-fourths  of  the 
time  was  fixed  upon  as  the  upper  limit. 

The  diagram  of  results  (Fig.  42)  is  made  out  for 
convenience  in  terms  of  the  scale-readings  of  the 
whistle.  It  will  be  easily  interpreted  if  it  is  borne  in 
mind  that  the  smaller  numbers  on  the  scale  mean 
higher  vibration  rates.  The  following  table  gives  the 
number  of  vibration  rates  per  second  for  each  scale¬ 
reading  which  appears  in  the  table: 

1.6  =  52,500  vibrations  per  second 

1.7  =  49,411 

1.8  =  46,667 

1.9  =  44,210 
2.0=42,000 
2.2  =  38,181 
2.4=35,000 
3.0=28,000 
4.0=21,000 

The  diagram  shows  no  characteristic  sex  difference. 
The  women  are  somewhat  more  numerous  in  the 
very  high  region,  and  the  men  in  the  very  low  region, 
but  this  difference  is  balanced  by  the  fact  that  there 
are  more  men  in  the  middle  high  ranges,  and  more 
women  in  the  middle  low  ranges. 

B.  THE  LOWER  LIMIT. 

The  experiments  on  the  lower  limit  of  pitch  were 
performed  with  the  Appunn  wire  forks.  There  were 
eight  forks  in  the  series,  ranging  from  twelve  to 
fifty-six  vibrations  per  second.  Each  fork  is  repre- 


HEARING 


7 1 


sented  in  the  abscissas  of  the  curves  of  results  (Fig. 
43).  Since  the  lowest  fork  (twelve  vibrations  per 
second)  was  not  below  the  possible  limits  of  pitch, 
the  subjects  could  not  in  this  case  be  given  the  con¬ 
trast  between  pitch,  and  vibrations  with  no  pitch. 
The  experiments  were  be-  f-,  N 
gun  with  the  forks  of  high  r-\  j  \ 
vibration  rate,  and  worked  ' 
down  to  the  limit.  The 
subject  kepthiseyesclosed 
during  the  test.  Each  fork 
was  sounded  close  to  his  J  1 
ear  several  times.  He  9  ~ 
was  asked  to  tell  each 
time  whether  the  sound 
he  heard  could  be  called 
a  tone  or  not.  The  lower 
limit  of  pitch  is  subjec¬ 
tively  much  harder  to  fix 
than  the  upper.  As  the 
vibration  rate  decreases,  the  smooth  singing  tone 
changes  into  a  pulsating  sound  which  still  has  a  certain 
pitch  quality.  Many  subjects  found  it  very  difficult 
to  fix  upon  the  point  where  the  sound  lost  its  pitch 
quality.  An  attempt  was  made  to  control  the  judg¬ 
ment  by  requiring  discriminations  of  higher  and  lower 
in  doubtful  cases,  but  this  proved  to  be  impracticable; 
in  the  first  place,  because  discriminative  sensibility  at 
the  lower  limit  is  so  coarse ;  and  in  the  second  place, 
because  the  difference  of  vibration  rate  could  be  felt 
as  the  air  struck  the  ear  and  an  indirect  judgment  as 
to  pitch,  based  on  vibration  rate,  was  unavoidable. 
The  results  therefore  contain  the  source  of  error  due 
to  differences  in  individual  standards. 


2c 

Fig.  43. 

Lower  limit  of  pitch. 

Abscissas  —  vibrations  per  second 
of  the  forks  used. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 
- -  women;  - men. 


n  * 


72 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


The  result  (Fig.  43)  seems  to  indicate  a  somewhat 
lower  limit  of  pitch  in  the  men.  The  limits  of  the 
two  curves  are  the  same  —  from  twelve  to  above  the 
series  of  forks;  the  difference  in  them  is  in  the  num¬ 
ber  of  lower  limits  falling  on  the  twelve  and  sixteen 
forks.  There  are  nine  men  and  three  women  at  twelve 
and  vice  versa  at  sixteen.  Considering  the  source  of 
error  in  the  test,  as  small  a  difference  as  this  is  of 
doubtful  significance. 

C.  DISCRIMINATIVE  SENSIBILITY. 

The  tests  on  pitch  discrimination  were  made  with 
two  tuning  forks  with  the  pitch  Ut  3  (5 12  single  vibra¬ 
tions  per  second).  One  of  the  forks  bore  a  rider  by 
which  its  rate  could  be  reduced  as  much  as  seven 
vibrations  per  second.  The  forks  were  mounted  on 
wooden  resonators.  The  subject  sat  with  his  back  to 
the  apparatus,  at  a  distance  of  about  six  feet.  The 
forks  were  sounded  by  tapping  them  with  a  rubber- 
tipped  hammer.  The  chief  source  of  error  in  the  test 
was  the  inequalities  of  intensity  incident  to  striking 
the  forks  by  hand.  Long  practice  reduced  this  to  a 
minimum,  and  any  tests  where  the  differences  of  in¬ 
tensity  were  noticeable  were  discarded. 

The  usual  directions  for  discriminative  tests  were 
given  the  subject.  He  was  told  that  two  tones  would 
be  sounded  in  succession  and  that  he  was  to  report 
each  time  which  of  the  two  was  higher  in  pitch.  The 
number  of  tests  in  each  order  was  the  same.  The 
series  began  with  the  large  differences  —  six  or  seven 
vibrations  per  second  —  and  worked  gradually  down  to 
the  limit.  Most  of  the  subjects  improved  so  rapidly 
with  practice  that  it  was  found  necessary  to  keep  the 


HEARING 


73 


time  devoted  to  this  test  approximately  constant.  A 
few  subjects  came  to  a  standstill  before  the  end  of  the 
half-hour  usually  allotted  to  it  and  proved  unable  to  go 
farther  even  after  repeated  trials.  In  these  cases  the 
test  was  stopped  when  improvement  ceased.  In  all 
other  instances  the  fine¬ 
ness  of  discrimination 
reached  at  the  end  of 
the  half-hour  is  what  is 
recorded.  It  may  not 
in  all  cases  represent 
the  limit  of  possible 
discrimination,  but  is  a 
fair  measure  of  the 
relative  natural  capa¬ 
cities. 

The  results  (Fig.  44) 
are  recorded  in  terms  of 
the  difference  of  vibra¬ 
tion  rate  between  the  two  forks  at  the  limit  of  dis¬ 
crimination  for  each  subject.  The  curves  indicate  finer 
discrimination  in  the  women  than  in  the  men.  The 
difference  is  shown  principally  by  the  greater  number 
of  women  than  men  who  could  discriminate  a  differ¬ 
ence  of  less  than  one  vibration  a  second,  and  the  pre¬ 
ponderance  of  men  who  could  not  discriminate  pitch 
at  all  within  the  limits  allowed  by  these  forks.  The 
latter  subjects  seemed  to  have  no  clear  idea  of  what 
the  terms  high  and  low  meant  with  reference  to  pitch. 
Their  attempts  at  discrimination  were  pure  guesses, 
with  no  discernible  regularities. 


Pitch  discrimination.  Standard,  Ut3 
(512  single  vibrations  persecond). 

Abscissas  —  difference  in  the  number 
of  vibrations  per  second  between 
the  standard  fork  and  the  fork 
of  comparison  necessary  for  dis¬ 
crimination. 

Ordinates — number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women;  - men. 


74 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


SUMMARY  OF  OTHER  EXPERIMENTAL  WORK  ON  HEARING. 

The  only  test  on  pitch  comparable  with  ours  is  the 
one  made  in  the  series  of  tests  at  Columbia  University 
(82).  The  method  consisted  in  requiring  the  subject 
to  find  again,  after  the  bridge  had  been  shifted,  a  note 
sounded  on  a  monochord.  The  result  agrees  with  that 
of  the  present  test  in  showing  that  the  women  have  a 
finer  pitch  discrimination  than  the  men. 

The  only  other  comparative  tests  on  hearing  are 
those  by  Lombroso,  (51,  chap,  iii)  and  Roncoroni  (7 2) 
on  the  limits  of  normal  hearing.  They  both  used  as  a 
measure  the  distance  at  which  a  watch  could  be  heard. 
Although  the  number  of  persons  tested  was  small,  the 
method  rough,  and  the  results  contradictory  for  the  two 
ears,  Lombroso  comes  to  the  conclusion  that  men’s  hear- 
ingis keener  than  women’s.  Roncoroni  agreeswith  him. 

Reik  (71)  reports  an  interesting  anatomical  in¬ 
vestigation  of  the  ears  of  440  school  children.  He 
found  abnormalities  much  more  frequent  in  the  ears 
of  boys  than  in  those  of  girls.  He  also  made  investi¬ 
gations  on  the  physiological  functions  of  the  ear. 
Although  he  gives  no  report  of  his  results  on  pitch 
discrimination,  the  presumption  is  that  it  would  be 
poorer  in  the  sex  with  the  greater  number  of  abnor¬ 
malities  —  a  result  which  would  be  in  accord  with  ours. 
The  values  he  obtained  for  the  upper  limit  of  pitch 
agree  very  well  with  ours.  Some  of  the  children, 
however,  could  distinguish  higher  vibration  rates  than 
any  of  our  adult  subjects.  He  makes  no  comparison 
of  sex  with  respect  to  the  upper  limit.  Tests  made 
under  the  direction  of  F.  W.  Smedley  (71a)  in  the 
Chicago  public  schools  revealed  no  great  differences 
as  regards  defective  hearing  in  boys  and  girls. 


HEARING 


75 


GENERAL  SUMMARY  OF  TESTS  IN  HEARING. 

In  the  upper  and  lower  limits  of  pitch  the  only 
difference  of  sex  indicated  was  a  possible  lower  limit 
for  men.  In  pitch  discrimination  women  are  better 
than  men.  The  tests  on  the  threshold  for  hearing 
have  been  too  few  in  number,  too  rough  in  method, 
and  too  contradictory  in  result  to  serve  as  a  basis  for 
any  trustworthy  generalization. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


VISION. 

The  experiments  made  on  vision  dealt  with  the  fol¬ 
lowing  subjects  : 

A.  The  threshold  for  light. 

B.  Discriminative  sensibility  for  brightness. 

C.  Keenness  of  vision. 

D.  Discrimination  of  color. 

E.  Discrimination  of  visual  areas. 

A.  THE  THRESHOLD  FOR  LIGHT. 

The  apparatus  used  in  the  experiments  on  the  sen¬ 
sitiveness  of  the  retina  to  light  was  a  long  wooden 
tube  about  eight  inches  square  at  the  ends  and  four  feet 
long.  It  was  blackened  on  the  inside  and  was  made 
absolutely  light-proof.  At  one  end  was  a  box-like 
cover  under  which  the  subject  could  sit,  with  his  eyes 
on  a  level  with  the  tube.  When  the  subject  was  in 
position,  the  box  was  covered  with  a  camera  cloth  in 
such  a  way  that  no  light  could  reach  his  eyes.  At  the 
other  end  of  the  tube  was  a  round  opening  one  inch 
in  diameter.  It  was  found  impossible  to  reduce  white 
light  to  the  threshold.  The  opening  was  therefore 
covered  with  violet  glass.  Since  all  light  appears  as  mere 
brightness  in  its  lowest  intensities,  the  color  of  the 
glass  was  indifferent  in  the  present  case.  The  glass 
was  held  in  place  by  a  box-shaped  cap  which  fitted 
over  the  end  of  the  tube.  The  circular  opening  was 
closed  by  a  round  black  disc.  When  the  disc  was  in 

76 


VISION 


77 


position  no  light  whatever  could  reach  the  eye  of  the 
subject.  The  only  possible  way  to  stimulate  the  retina 
was  to  move  the  disc  away  from  the  opening  in  the 
tube. 

The  experiments  were  made  in  a  completely  dark 
room.  The  source  of  light  was  a  Welsbach  burner. 
One  of  the  great  difficulties  in  making  experiments  on 
the  threshold  of  vision  has  been  to  find  some  way  of 
reducing  the  light  by  measurable  amounts.  In  this 
case  no  attempt  was  made  to  reduce  the  illumination 
itself.  A  source  of  light  which  would  remain  constant 
was  all  that  was  required,  and  other  means  presently 
to  be  described  were  taken  to  lessen  the  intensity. 
A  year’s  experience  with  the  apparatus  previous  to 
using  it  in  this  test  was  sufficient  to  convince  us  that 
the  Welsbach  burner,  under  full  gas  pressure,  does 
furnish  a  constant  source  of  light.  The  supply  of  gas 
is  always  sufficient  to  illuminate  the  mantel  to  its  full 
extent,  and  that  insures  the  maximum  of  light  which 
the  burner  affords.  It  was  found  that  the  same  thresh¬ 
old — allowing  for  variations  in  temporary  condition — 
could  be  established  for  a  given  subject  day  after 
day  with  this  apparatus.  Assuming  therefore  that 
what  variations  of  intensity  there  were  in  the  source 
of  light  were  beneath  perception  when  applied  in  this 
way,  the  intensity  was  reduced  to  the  amount  required 
by  shading  the  light  in  various  ways  and  reducing  re¬ 
flection  in  the  room.  A  few  inches  in  front  of  theopen- 
ing  of  the  tube  was  placed  a  black  cardboard  screen 
at  a  given  angle  with  the  box  and  with  the  burner. 
The  burner  was  placed  opposite  the  black  screen  about 
five  feet  away,  and  shed  its  light  on  the  screen,  from 
which  it  was  reflected  into  the  box  whenever  the  open- 


78 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


ing  was  exposed.  The  burner  itself  was  placed  in  a 
case  with  a  window  opening  toward  the  screen.  This 
reduced  reflection  from  the  walls  of  the  room.  By 
this  means  the  amount  of  light  admitted  to  the  box 
was  lowered  to  a  point  near  the  threshold.  The  further 
diminution  of  intensity  was  accomplished  by  a  series  of 
cheese-cloth  curtains  which  hung  in  front  of  the  window 
of  thecase  containingtheburner.  Every  curtainlowered 
reduced  the  illumination  of  the  black  screen  and  con¬ 
sequently  the  amount  of  light  entering  the  box.  Since 
all  the  other  factors  in  the  situation  remained  constant 
the  absolute  sensitiveness  of  the  retina  could  be 
measured  by  the  number  of  curtains  necessary  to  reduce 
the  illumination  to  the  least  visible  amount. 

There  were  two  time  factors  in  the  experiment 
which  it  was  necessary  to  keep  constant.  One  was 
the  length  of  time  the  eyes  were  rested  in  the  dark 
box  before  the  experiment  began,  and  the  other  the 
time  of  exposure  of  the  light  for  each  stimulation. 
The  former  was  important  because  the  sensitiveness  of 
the  retina  increases  fast  on  being  completely  protected 
from  light.  If  the  experiments  were  made  a  few 
minutes  after  the  subject  was  put  into  the  apparatus, 
the  threshold  found  would  be  much  higher  than  that 
found  half  an  hour  later.  It  was  observed  that  after  an 
hour  the  sensitiveness  increased  little  if  any.  Con¬ 
sequently,  the  subjects  were  left  entirely  without 
stimulation  of  the  retina  for  thirty  or  forty  minutes. 
This  time  was  used  for  determining  the  touch  thresh¬ 
old  (see  chap,  iii,  sec.  A,  i)  and  the  discriminative 
sensibility  for  area  on  the  skin  (see  chap,  iii,  sec.  B,  2). 
At  the  end  of  that  time  the  experiments  on  the  eyes 
were  begun,  and  were  completed  in  twenty  or  twenty- 


VISION 


79 


five  minutes.  The  sensitivity  registered  is  that  which 
obtains  after  protection  of  the  retina  from  light  — 
except  the  minimal  stimulations  of  the  test  —  for  an 
hour. 

The  second  time  element  —  the  duration  of  the 
single  stimulations  —  is  important  because  a  very  faint 
light  may  be  visible  when  exposed  for  a  longer  time 
but  not  visible  when  exposed  for  a  shorter  time.  This 
time  interval  was  controlled  by  a  mechanical  contriv¬ 
ance  for  raising  and  lowering  the  disc  covering  the 
opening  in  the  dark  box.  The  disc  was  fastened  by  a 
projection  at  one  side  to  the  end  of  a  vertical  rod,  in 
such  a  way  that  when  the  rod  was  moved  up  about 
half  an  inch,  the  disc  was  thrown  down,  uncovering 
the  opening.  The  other  end  of  the  rod  was  joined  by 
a  pivot  to  the  end  of  one  arm  of  a  lever  which  was 
mounted  on  the  table.  The  fulcrum  of  this  lever  was 
a  ball  and  socket  bearing  at  its  middle  point.  The 
downward  pressure  of  the  rod  on  one  arm  was  balanced 
by  a  movable  weight  on  the  other  arm.  By  means  of 
this  adjustment  it  was  possible  to  bring  the  system 
into  a  state  of  equilibrium  such  that  the  lever  arms 
would  remain  as  they  were  placed.  When  the  arm 
connected  with  the  rod  was  moved  up  by  pressing 
down  on  the  free  lever  arm,  the  disc  was  thrown 
down  and  the  box  opening  remained  uncovered.  It 
was  closed  again  at  the  end  of  the  required  interval 
by  means  of  a  metal  ball  which  rolled  down  a  trough 
and  into  a  second  short  trough  which  was  fastened  to 
the  upright  rod.  A  catch  was  arranged  which  held  the 
balls  in  place  until  time  to  release  them.  When  the 
free  lever  arm  was  pushed  down,  it  removed  the  disc 
from  the  box  opening,  and  at  the  same  instant  released 


8o 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


the  catch  which  held  the  ball.  The  opening  remained 
uncovered  until  the  ball  rolled  down  the  trough  and 
into  the  short  trough  borne  by  the  rod.  The  weight 
of  the  ball  then  carried  the  rod  down  and  thus  threw 
the  disc  up  over  the  opening  again.  The  duration  of 

each  stimulation  was  the  time 
required  for  the  ball  to  roll 
from  the  catch  to  the  short 
trough.  As  long  as  the  length 
of  trough  employed  and  its 
inclination  remained  the  same, 
the  ball’s  time  remained  prac¬ 
tically  constant.  Its  varia¬ 
tions  were  far  within  the 
limits  of  the  time  error  for 
this  experiment.  The  troughs 
were  padded  to  make  them 
noiseless.  A  padded  inclined 
plane  was  arranged  which  received  the  ball  as  it  left 
the  trough  and  returned  it  to  the  operator. 

The  series  of  tests  was  begun  with  a  light  which 
was  clearly  above  the  threshold,  to  make  sure  that  the 
subject  was  familiar  with  the  stimulus.  The  stimula¬ 
tions  were  given  in  series  of  ten  at  irregular  intervals. 
The  subject  was  required  to  count  aloud  when  he  saw 
the  light.  As  soon  as  the  threshold  was  approached, 
two  or  three  series  were  given  for  each  grade  of 
intensity.  Rests  of  several  minutes  were  allowed 
between  series.  When  the  subject  was  troubled  with 
retinal  activity  which  obscured  the  field  of  vision  with 
clouds  of  gray  or  colored  light,  longer  periods  of  rest 
were  given  for  these  to  subside.  As  in  other  threshold 
tests,  imaginary  stimulations  were  inserted  in  the  series 


Abscissas  —  number  of  cur¬ 
tains  down. 


Ordinates — number  of  sub¬ 
jects. 

- women  ;  - men. 


VISION 


8 1 


by  most  subjects.  If  the  tendency  proved  extreme,  the 
subject  was  told  of  it,  and  in  such  cases  it  invariably 
decreased.  The  point  taken  as  a  threshold  was  the 
least  intensity  —  measured  in  terms  of  the  number  of 
curtains  lowered  —  at  which  three-fourths  of  the  stimu¬ 
lations  could  be  correctly  counted,  regardless  of  the 
imaginary  ones  inserted. 

The  results  (Fig.  45)  show  an  appreciably  greater 
sensitiveness  of  retina  in  the  men  than  in  the  women. 
Men  are  decidedly  more  numerous  in  the  region  of 
greatest  sensitiveness  (six  to  seven  curtains),  and  less 
numerous  in  the  regions  of  slight  sensitiveness  (none 
to  three  curtains). 

B.  DISCRIMINATIVE  SENSIBILITY  FOR  BRIGHTNESS. 

The  Bradley  color  wheel,  with  two  sizes  of  black 
and  white  discs,  was  employed  for  testing  the  discrimi¬ 
nation  of  brightnesses.  The  smaller  circle  was  made 
the  standard.  It  remained  half  black  and  half  white 
throughout  the  test.  The  proportion  of  black  and 
white  in  the  larger  circle  was  shifted  until  the  least 
amount  of  black  necessary  to  make  the  outer  ring 
appear  darker  than  the  inner  circle  was  discovered.  A 
disc  with  a  circle  divided  into  one  hundred  parts 
placed  behind  the  large  discs  served  to  measure  the 
amount  of  black  added  to  the  outer  circle.  The  record 
was  kept  in  terms  of  the  percentage  of  black  required 
in  the  outer  ring  to  make  it  just  perceptibly  darker 
than  the  inner  circle. 

To  insure  a  constant  illumination,  the  tests  were 
made  in  a  dark  room,  and  the  light  was  furnished  by 
aWelsbach  burner  placed  at  a  fixed  distance  behind 
the  subject  in  such  a  way  that  the  light  came  over  the 


82 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


left  shoulder.  The  subject  was  seated  facing  the 
wheel.  His  eyes  were  kept  closed  during  the  shifting 
of  the  discs,  and  were  not  opened  until  the  wheel  was 
in  full  motion  again.  The  only  direction  given  the 
subject  was  that  he  was  to  tell  each  time  whether  the 
inner  circle  or  the  outer  was 
darker.  To  avoid  the  error  of 
having  the  outer  circle  con¬ 
stantly  the  darker,  frequent 
tests  in  which  the  outer  circle 
was  lighter  were  inserted  in 
the  series.  The  test  began 
with  clearly  distinguishable 
differences,  and  worked  down, 
shifting  back  and  forth,  to  the 
finest  possible  discrimination. 
Three  out  of  four  correct  judg¬ 
ments  served  to  fix  the  limit  of 
discrimination.  The  discrimi¬ 
nation  was  measured  to  fourths 
of  I  per  cent. 

The  results  (Fig.  46)  show  a  better  discrimination 
on  the  part  of  the  men.  Their  curve  is  above  that  of 
the  women  in  the  region  of  fine  discriminations 
( 5  1  —  5 3  percent.)  and  below  it  in  the  region  of  coarse 
discriminations  (54-55  per  cent.). 

C.  KEENNESS  OF  VISION. 

The  apparatus  used  for  testing  keenness  of  vision 
consisted  of  cards,  one  black  and  one  white,  about  four 
inches  long  and  five  inches  wide,  on  each  of  which 
were  pasted  little  squares  (2  mm.),  of  red,  blue,  green, 
and  yellow.  The  black  card  had  also  a  white  square, 


Discriminative  sensibility 
for  brightness.  Stand¬ 
ard,  50  per  cent,  black 
and  50  per  cent,  white. 

Abscissas  —  percentage  of 
black  necessary  for  dis¬ 
crimination. 

Ordinates — number  of  sub¬ 
jects. 

- women  ;  - men. 


VISION 


83 


and  the  white  card  a  black  square.  The  five  squares 
were  pasted  at  equal  distances  along  the  center  of 
the  cards.  The  subject  was  tested  first  with  the 
white  background,  and  second  with  the  black  back¬ 
ground. 

The  tests  were  made  in  a  dark  room.  The  card 
was  illuminated  by  the  light  of  a  Welsbach  burner 
placed  at  a  fixed  distance  from  it.  A  screen  behind 
the  light  protected  the  subject’s  eyes  from  it  as  he 
approached.  The  card  was  hung  on  the  wall  on  a 
level  with  the  subject’s  eyes.  From  the  point 
below  the  middle  of  the  card,  a  5  m.  line  was 
marked  across  the  room  on  the  floor.  The  subject 
was  placed  at  the  end  of  this  line,  with  one  eye 
bandaged.  The  card  was  hung  upon  the  wall,  and 
the  subject  was  asked  how  much  he  could  see  on 
it.  He  was  then  directed  to  approach  slowly,  telling 
at  each  step  how  much  he  could  see,  until  all  the 
squares  and  their  colors  were  visible.  The  point  at 
which  each  square  and  each  color  became  visible  was 
noted.  With  thirteen  subjects  of  each  sex  the  right 
eye  was  used  first,  and  with  twelve  the  left  eye. 
The  spots  were,  of  course,  visible  much  farther  away 
than  their  colors.  In  order  to  make  the  subject  care¬ 
ful  in  observing,  he  was  asked  about  the  appearance 
of  the  spots  at  each  step,  and  particularly  whether  or 
not  they  all  looked  gray  or  black.  After  testing  one 
eye,  a  pretense  was  made  of  changing  the  card  for 
the  other  eye,  in  order  that  the  subject  might  not  be 
influenced  by  a  knowledge  of  what  was  really  on  the 
card 

The  test  did  not  prove  to  be  altogether  a  satis¬ 
factory  one,  because  the  maximum  distance  from  the 


84 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


card,  5  m.,  was  not  sufficient  to  make  the  spots  dis¬ 
appear  to  the  normal  eye,  on  either  background.  The 
blue  spot  on  the  black  ground,  and  the  yellow  spot 
on  the  white  ground,  were  not  visible  to  most  subjects 
at  5  m.  The  colors  on  the  white  card  were  very  rarely 
visible  at  the  end  of  the  line.  On  the  black  card  the 
red  and  green  could  be  distinguished  by  a  number  of 
subjects. 

The  results  of  these  tests  bearing  on  the  threshold 
for  the  perception  of  the  spots  appear  in  Table  X. 
About  all  that  can  be  gathered  from  this  table  is  that 
there  are  more  men  than  women  with  weak  left  eyes. 
The  records  for  the  blue  on  the  black  ground,  and  for 
the  yellow  on  the  white  ground,  do,  however,  afford 
some  means  of  judging  of  the  status  of  those  who, 
in  the  other  combinations,  fall  beyond  the  limits  of 
the  test,  i.  e .,  5  m.  In  these  two  instances,  the  right- 
eye  test  shows  the  men  somewhat  better  than  the 
women,  and  the  left-eye  test  shows  them  very  slightly 
inferior. 

The  results  bearing  on  the  threshold  for  the  recog¬ 
nition  of  the  colors  of  the  spots  are  shown  in  Table  XI. 
In  this  table  the  combinations,  black  on  a  white  back¬ 
ground  and  white  on  a  black  background,  do  not 
appear,  because  for  them  the  threshold  of  perception 
was  the  only  one  obtainable.  The  difference  between 
the  sexes  is  more  marked  in  the  recognition  of  color 
than  in  the  perception  of  the  spots.  In  the  latter 
respect  the  right  eye  is  superior  among  the  men  ; 
in  the  recognition  of  color  it  is  superior  among  the 
women.  There  are  but  two  instances,  blue  and 
yellow  on  white,  in  which  it  is  superior  in  the  men. 
In  two  more,  green  on  white,  and  yellow  on  black, 


VISION 


8S 


TABLE  X. 

Keenness  of  vision.  Thresholds  of  perception  for  the  several  spots,  i.  e., 
distances  at  which  the  spots  were  perceived. 


86 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


TABLE  XI. 


Keenness  of  vision.  Thresholds  of  recognition  for  the  various  spots, 
i.  e.,  distances  at  which  the  color  of  the  spots  was  recognized. 


Distance  of  Subject  from 

o 

5 

IO 

15 

20 

25 

30 

35 

40 

45 

50 

Card  (Decimeters). 

s' 

Women. 

2 

2 

2 

6 

4 

4 

4 

cm 

^  P 

O 

« 

Men  . . . 

3 

3 

4 

4 

2 

4 

3 

I 

I 

JS  6J5  i 

«-ts 

Women. 

2 

I 

3 

6 

5 

2 

3 

3 

ctl 

<U  • 

W 

Men  . . . 

I 

2 

4 

6 

5 

3 

I 

2 

I 

D 

i 

Women. 

14 

8 

I 

2 

..  c 

CUD 

4J  3 

•ts  O 

Men  . . 

3 

I  I 

4 

6 

I 

Women. 

12 

9 

2 

I 

Men  .  . . 

5 

16 

I 

2 

I 

s 

Women. 

I 

I 

2 

I 

I 

I 

3 

3 

6 

6 

c 

cm 

3 

o  o 

“  5>  i 

«  1 

Men  . 

I 

4 

4 

I 

1 

3 

I 

9 

Z 

«-g 

ca 

« 

Left. 

Women. 

Men  . . . 

1 

2 

I 

4 

1 

2 

2 

2 

2 

3 

1 

2 

2 

2 

7 

1 

8 

7 

s  i 

O 

Women. 

I 

5 

6 

5 

4 

2 

1 

1 

c 

cm 

Bg 

5 

Men  . . . 

I 

3 

8 

S 

4 

I 

1 

1 

1 

>  rX 

. 

Women. 

I 

4 

3 

9 

3 

2 

1 

1 

1 

PJ 

tt 

Men  .  . . 

2 

5 

6 

5 

I 

I 

3 

1 

I 

s' 

Women. 

I 

2 

I 

1 

3 

7 

10 

c 

OJD 

v  P 

£ 

Men  .  . . 

I 

2 

2 

4 

2 

13 

M  3 

Women. 

I 

I 

1 

3 

4 

is 

Q 

£ 

<u 

Men  . . . 

I 

I 

4 

I 

2 

3 

13 

s' 

Women. 

2 

2 

6 

4 

4 

2 

2 

I 

i 

I 

c 

p  o 

£ 

Men  .  .. 

2 

3 

5 

5 

4 

3 

2 

I 

cm  ^ 

ca 

• 

,  Women. 

2 

I 

5 

3 

7 

3 

2 

I 

I 

m 

Men  . . . 

3 

3 

3 

4 

6 

I 

2 

1 

2 

,P 

Women. 

I 

2 

2 

3 

4 

1 

1 

5 

3 

3 

fl 

txo 

V  P 
o  2 
«  u> 

Men  . . . 

3 

5 

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I 

3 

3 

2 

7 

»iS 

ca 

.£ 

,  Women. 

I 

I 

3 

3 

4 

3 

2 

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4 

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PQ 

Men  .  . . 

I 

I 

2 

3 

3 

I 

2 

6 

6 

►j 

u 

>. 

'd 

s 

Women. 

10 

8 

b 

I 

I 

c 

cm 

B  o 
;?  w 

PS 

Men  .  . . 

I 

8 

4 

8 

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£  ■* 

!  Women. 

6 

9 

6 

3 

I 

(S 

'  Men  .. 

I 

10 

I 

8 

4 

I 

VISION 


87 


it  is  practically  the  same  for  both,  and  in  the  other 
four  combinations  it  is  better  in  the  women.  The 
left  eye  has  a  better  record  among  the  women  in  all 
colors  except  yellow,  in  which  it  is  somewhat  better 
in  the  men.  The  superiority  of  the  women  is  more 
marked  in  the  recognition  of  red  and  green  than  in 
the  recognition  of  blue  and  yellow.  Yellow  is  the 
only  color  for  which  the  men’s  record  is  better  than 
the  women’s.  The  general  conclusion  is  that  the  men’s 
eyes  are  possibly  somewhat  keener  than  the  women’s 
in  the  detection  of  the  presence  of  an  object,  but 
quite  surely  less  keen  in  the  recognition  of  its  color. 
The  former  statement  is  qualified  because  the  test  was 
not  well  devised  for  determining  that  point,  and  the 
data  on  which  it  is  based  are  meager. 

D.  DISCRIMINATION  OF  COLOR. 

The  test  regarding  the  discrimination  of  color  was 
made  with  the  larger  series  of  Holgrem  worsteds  for 
testing  color-blindness.  The  worsteds  were  given  to 
the  subject  heaped  upon  a  gray  cloth.  He  was 
given  a  sample  to  serve  as  a  standard,  and  was 
told  to  select  all  the  worsteds  in  the  pile  which  were 
of  the  same  color  as  the  sample.  It  was  carefully 
explained  that  the  worsteds  might  differ  in  shade 
from  the  sample,  but  must  not  differ  in  hue.  When 
the  required  worsteds  were  selected,  he  was  told  to 
arrange  them  in  order  from  lightest  to  darkest.  The 
samples  were  given  in  the  order  —  green,  blue,  red, 
and  yellow.  After  each  series  was  selected  it  was 
mixed  into  the  pile  before  the  selection  of  the  next 
one  began.  The  subject  was  marked  “color-blind” 
only  in  undoubted  cases,  where  decided  oranges  were 


88 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


tfc. 


placed  with  yellows,  lavenders  with  blue,  or  browns  and 
grays  in  the  color  series.  When  bad  mistakes  were 
made,  but  not  bad  enough  to  rank  the  subject  as 
unquestionably  color-blind,  he  was  marked  “poor” 
in  color  discrimination.  The 
series  in  which  the  mistakes 
were  very  slight  were  graded 
as  “medium,”  and  those  which 
were  perfect  were  recorded  as 
“excellent.” 

The  curve  for  the  discrim¬ 
ination  of  color  (Fig.  47) 

vj— - jj,  shows  a  strikingly  better  color 

discrimination  in  the  women 
than  in  the  men.  The  men  pre¬ 
dominate  in  the  “color-blind” 
and  “poor”  sections,  and  the 
women  in  the  “medium”  and 
“  excellent.” 


/" 


Fig.  47. 

Discrimination  of  color. 
Abscissas  —  grades  of  dis¬ 
crimination. 

Ordinates  — number  of  sub¬ 
jects. 

- - women ;  - men. 


E.  DISCRIMINATION  OF  VISUAL  AREAS. 

For  the  tests  on  discrimination  of  visual  areas  a 
series  of  small  white  squares  mounted  on  large  black 
cardboard  squares  was  used.  The  size  of  the  black 
squares,  and  the  position  of  the  white  squares  on  them, 
were  identical  throughout  the  series.  The  standard 
square  measured  20  mm.  on  a  side.  Those  for  com¬ 
parison  were  19.5,  19,  18.5,  and  18  mm.  The  subject 
sat  at  a  table  facing  a  black  screen.  The  experimenter 
stood  behind  the  screen  and  placed  the  two  squares  to 
be  compared  in  front  of  the  screen  successively.  The 
directions  were  to  report  which  of  the  two  squares 


VISION 


89 


shown  was  the  larger.  The 
larger  differences  and  worked 
down  to  the  smaller.  The 
point  at  which  three-fourths 
of  twelve  judgments  were 
correct  was  taken  as  the  limit 
of  discrimination. 

The  curves  for  the  dis¬ 
crimination  of  visual  area 
(Fig.  48)  are  very  similar 
for  the  men  and  the  women. 
What  difference  there  is  is 
in  favor  of  the  men.  They 
are  somewhat  more  numer¬ 
ous  in  the  region  of  finest 
discrimination  (19.5  and 
19.5  mm.-|-). 


series  began  with  the 


Discrimination  of  visual  area. 
Standard  square,  20  mm. 

Abscissas  —  size  of  squares 
just  discriminable  from 
the  standard. 

Ordinates — number  of  sub¬ 
jects. 

-  -  -  -  women  ;  -  men. 


SUMMARY  OF  OTHER  EXPERIMENTAL  WORK  ON  VISION 

There  are  no  tests  to  compare  with  the  present  series 
on  the  absolute  sensitiveness  of  the  retina  to  light 
or  on  the  discriminative  sensibility  for  grays,  and  none 
exactly  comparable  with  the  test  on  keenness  of  vision. 
Those  which  are  on  record  employed  the  method  of 
reading  type  or  numerals.  Pearson  (69)  reports  a 
series  of  measurements  on  men  and  women  at  Cam¬ 
bridge,  in  which  the  average  is  slightly  higher  for  the 
men  with  the  right  eye  and  for  the  women  with  the 
left  eye.  The  Columbia  University  tests  (82),  in 
which  the  same  method  was  used,  revealed  no  differ¬ 
ence  in  sight.  The  present  test  happens  to  coincide 
with  the  Cambridge  results  in  showing  the  right  eye 


9° 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX  ’ 


slightly  better  among  the  men,  and  the  left  eye  among 
the  women.  In  both  cases,  however,  the  differences 
are  very  slight.  Krauskopf  (43)  found  a  greater 
percentage  of  eye  defects  among  girls  than  among 
boys.  The  total  mass  of  results  does  not  warrant  us 
in  postulating  any  sex  difference  in  keenness  of  vision. 

Three  distinct  problems  in  color  vision  have  been 
the  objects  of  previous  investigations  :  the  absolute 
sensitiveness  of  the  eye  to  color  ;  the  discriminative 
sensibility  for  color  ;  and  the  presence  of  color-blind¬ 
ness.  The  first  of  these  was  investigated  by  Nichols 
(62).  He  prepared  series  of  mixtures  of  white  pow¬ 
der  with  colored  pigments  for  the  four  colors,  red, 
green,  blue,  and  yellow.  The  series  varied  in  intensity 
from  mixtures  indistinguishable  from  white,  to  clearly 
colored  mixtures.  The  series  for  the  four  colors  were 
placed  in  glass  bottles,  and  the  bottles  were  indis¬ 
criminately  mixed.  The  subject  was  required  to  sort 
them  according  to  hue  and  shade.  Nichols  found 
that  men  were  able  to  distinguish  smaller  amounts  of 
pigment  than  women  in  all  colors  except  blue,  in 
which  women  excelled.  This  result  is  not  in  accord 
with  that  of  the  present  series  of  tests,  which  finds 
women  more  sensitive  than  men  to  all  colors  except 
yellow. 

With  regard  to  the  second  problem  —  the  ability 
to  discriminate  shades  of  a  single  color  —  all  ob¬ 
servers  agree  with  our  result,  i.  e.,  that  women  are 
superior  to  men.  Lombroso  (51,  chap,  iii)  reports 
that  women  are  three  times  as  keen  as  men  in  distin¬ 
guishing  colors  with  the  Holgrem  worsteds,  a  differ¬ 
ence  which  he  attributes  to  their  practice  in  embroid¬ 
ery.  Nichols,  in  the  test  reported  above,  finds  that 


VISION 


91 

women  are  better  than  men  in  arranging  the  series  of 
colors  according  to  intensity.  Gilbert  (30)  and  Mac¬ 
Donald  (55,  p.  1106)  both  report  that  among  school 
children  girls  are  better  than  boys  in  distinguishing 
the  shades  of  a  single  color.  Luckey  (53)  seems  to 
be  alone  in  his  doubt  about  a  sexual  difference  in 
this  respect.  He  reports  experiments  on  a  good 
many  children  and  a  few  adults,  and  says  that  he 
finds  the  color  range  and  the  power  of  discrimination 
in  the  primary  colors  equal  for  the  two  sexes. 

The  investigations  which  have  been  made  regard¬ 
ing  the  third  problem  —  the  presence  of  color-blind¬ 
ness —  may  be  said  to  have  established  without  ques¬ 
tion  the  fact  that  this  defect  is  more  frequent  among 
men  than  among  women.  Jeffries  (40,  41,  42)  re¬ 
ports  tests  on  large  numbers  of  persons  both  in  this 
country  and  in  Europe  which  show  a  decidedly  larger 
percentage  of  color-blindness  among  males  than 
among  females.  Mullen  (59)  collected  the  reports 
on  tests  for  color-blindness  made  in  the  United 
States,  France,  England,  Denmark,  Sweden,  Russia, 
Austria,  China,  and  Japan  between  the  years  1880  and 
1897.  In  all  of  these  reports  in  which  a  comparison 
of  sex  was  made,  the  percentage  of  color-blindness 
was  much  higher  among  men  than  among  women. 
Wissler  (82)  corroborates  these  findings  in  his  report 
of  the  tests  on  Columbia  University  students,  and  it 
holds  for  the  present  series  of  tests  on  University  of 
Chicago  students. 

No  comparative  test  (other  than  that  of  the  present 
series)  on  the  judgment  of  visual  areas  is  on  record. 
MacDonald  (55,  p.  1104)  reports  a  test  on  school 
children  in  the  estimation  of  the  length  of  a  line. 


92 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


In  that,  as  in  the  present  test  on  judgment  of  area, 
the  males  were  somewhat  more  accurate  than  the 
females. 

GENERAL  SUMMARY  OF  EXPERIMENTS  ON  VISION. 

The  generalization  suggested  by  the  experiments 
on  vision  is  that  on  the  whole  men  are  somewhat 
better  than  women  in  brightness  vision,  while  women 
are  better  than  men  in  color  vision.  Although  no 
difference  between  the  two  in  keenness  of  vision  has 
been  established,  men’s  eyes  are  shown  to  be  abso¬ 
lutely  more  sensitive  to  light  than  women’s,  and  they 
make  finer  discriminations  of  grays.  The  results  as 
to  the  absolute  sensitiveness  of  the  eye  to  color  are 
contradictory.  Nichols  finds  it  greater  in  men,  and 
the  present  test  shows  it  greater  in  women.  There  is 
general  agreement,  however,  that  women  discriminate 
color  better  than  men,  and  are  less  subject  to  color¬ 
blindness.  The  tests  on  visual  discrimination  of  area 
and  on  estimation  of  length  show  that  in  this  faculty 
males  are  somewhat  superior  to  females. 


CHAPTER  VII. 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES. 

The  investigation  of  the  intellectual  faculties  cov¬ 
ered  four  different  fields: 

A.  Memory. 

B.  Association. 

C.  Ingenuity. 

D.  General  information. 


A.  MEMORY. 

The  memory  factors  investigated  were  the  rate  of 
memorizing,  retentiveness,  and  the  nature  of  the 
imagery  employed.  The  material  to  be  memorized 
consisted  of  two  series  of  nonsense  syllables,  each 
series  containing  ten  syllables.  The  first  series 
(“mon,  yit,  zev,  yer,  zam,  kig,  sef,  gav,  cim,  nis”) 
was  read  aloud,  and  the  second  (“  hue,  cir,  suv,  nif, 
fom,  mep,  yom,  fim,  zok,  seb  ”  )  presented  visually. 

In  both  cases  the  syllables  were  given  at  the  rate 
of  one  per  second.  To  avoid  rhythm  and  secure  a  con¬ 
stant  rate  of  presentation  for  all  subjects,  they  were 
timed  by  a  metronome.  The  auditory  series  was 
read  aloud  as  distinctly  as  possible,  the  visual  series 
was  placed  on  a  stroboscopic  drum  and  displayed 
syllable  by  syllable  behind  an  opening  in  a  black 
screen.  The  auditory  series  was  learned  first  in  each 
case,  and  the  visual  series  immediately  afterward  at 
the  same  sitting. 

The  subject  was  given  no  directions  about  the  way 


93 


94 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


he  should  do  the  memorizing.  He  was  merely  told 
that  the  series  of  syllables  would  be  given  him  as  many 
times  as  he  needed  it  to  learn  it  correctly  A  pause 
of  from  twelve  to  fifteen  seconds  intervened  between 
successive  presentations.  As  soon  as  the  subject 

thought  he  knew  the 
series,  he  began  to  say 
it  aloud  in  the  interval 
between  presentations. 
If  it  were  not  correctly 
said,  the  readings  con¬ 
tinued  until  it  was. 
After  it  was  learned 
the  subject  was  asked 
to  describe  accurately 
the  type  of  imagery  he 
had  used  in  memorizing,  to  tell  whether  or  not  he  had 
learned  the  series  by  means  of  associations,  and  to 
report  any  tendency  to  group  the  syllables  in  learning 
them. 

Retentiveness  was  measured  by  the  number  of  repe¬ 
titions  required  to  memorize  the  same  series  just  one 
week  after  the  first  memorizing.  The  subject  was  not 
told  that  he  would  be  required  to  memorize  them  a 
second  time;  the  hours  were  merely  arranged  so  that 
he  came  to  the  laboratory  just  a  week  after  the  first 
memorizing.  In  almost  all  cases  the  subjects  said  that 
they  had  made  no  effort  to  repeat  the  syllables  since 
the  first  memorizing.  A  few  had  tried  it  simply  out 
of  curiosity,  and  one  of  the  men  suspected  that  he 
would  be  asked  to  memorize  them  a  second  time  and 
had  made  a  special  effort  to  remember  them.  There 
were  two  women  and  two  men  who  failed  to  appear  at 


Memory.  Rate  of  memorizing.  Audi¬ 
tory  series. 

Abscissas  —  number  of  repetitions. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women;  - men. 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


95 


Vis- 


Fig.  50. 

Memory.  Rate  of  memorizing. 

ual  series. 

Abscissas — number  of  presentations. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women ;  - men. 


the  hour  when  the  second  memorizing  should  have 
taken  place.  In  these  instances  the  interval  was  from 
one  to  three  days  over  a  week.  The  abnormally  slow 
second  learnings  do  not,  however,  coincide  with  these 
longer  periods  According  to  the  well-known  psycho¬ 
logical  law  of  forgetting,  sr 
there  is  very  little  differ¬ 
ence,  so  far  as  memory  is 
concerned,  between  a  pe¬ 
riod  of  seven  days  and 
one  of  nine  or  ten.  Aside 
from  this  consideration, 
however,  the  exceeding 
of  the  regular  period  by 
these  four  subjects  may 
be  disregarded  in  com¬ 
paring  the  men’s  retentiveness  with  the  women’s,  be¬ 
cause  two  of  them  were  men  and  two  women. 

Figs.  49  and  50  are  the  curves  for  the  first  memo¬ 
rizing  of  the  two  series.  The  auditory  series  has  a 
total  average  considerably  greater  than  that  of  the 
visual  series.  No  subject  learned  the  auditory  series 
in  less  than  eight  repetitions,  while  a  number  learned 
the  visual  in  six.  Not  more  than  thirty-five  repeti¬ 
tions  were  required  in  any  case  for  the  visual  series, 
while  the  auditory  series  has  fifty-five  as  its  upper 
limit.  There  are  two  factors  which  are  adequate  to 
explain  this  difference.  The  first,  and  by  far  the  most 
important,  is  that  the  habit  of  memorizing  by  means 
of  printed  symbols  is  universal,  while  very  few,  if  any, 
of  the  subjects  had  ever  formed  the  habit  of  learning 
material  that  is  read  aloud.  Moreover,  the  visual 
symbols  are  more  easily  grasped  in  the  first  instance 


+0 


96 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


than  the  auditory.  The  second  factor  which  might 
tend  to  shorten  the  time  of  the  visual  series  is  that  it 
was  learned  second  in  each  case,  and  therefore  had 
the  benefit  of  the  practice  obtained  in  learning  the 
auditory  series.  Since  nonsense  syllables  were  com¬ 
pletely  unfamiliar  ma¬ 
terial  for  memorizing, 
the  first  series  presented 
the  additional  difficulty 
of  getting  accustomed  to 
a  new  subject-matter. 

In  both  the  auditory 
j  %  &  8  " "7»  a  /*  li  and  the  visual  series  the 

FlG’  5I'  women  show  distinctly 

Memory.  Retentiveness.  Auditory  ,  r 

serjes_  greater  power  of  mem- 

Abscissas  —  number  of  repetitions.  Orizing  than  the  men. 

Ordinates  -  number  of  subjects.  Here,  again,  we  find  both 
- women  ;  - men. 

men  and  women  at  both 
extremes,  but  there  are  in  both  cases  more  women 
than  men  who  memorized  quickly. 

Retentiveness  was  found  to  be  practically  the  same 
for  both  the  men  and  the  women  (Figs.  51  and  52). 
In  the  auditory  series  the  curves  for  retentiveness 
correspond  very  closely.  In  the  visual  the  women 
are  slightly  better,  but  the  difference  is  too  small  to 
be  of  any  significance. 

Since  the  women  are  thus  shown  to  have  a  greater 
power  to  memorize  nonsense  syllables  than  the  men 
and  an  equal  power  to  retain  the  memory,  they  may 
be  said  to  have,  on  the  whole,  better  memories  for 
such  syllables  than  have  men.  The  question  arises 
whether  this  fact  justifies  a  general  statement  that 
women  are  superior  to  men  in  the  faculty  of  memory. 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


97 


6 

Fig.  52. 
Retentiveness. 


Visual 


If  what  we  wish  to  measure  is  mere  power  of  memory, 
isolated  as  far  as  possible  from  the  factors  of  reason 
and  association,  nonsense  syllables  are  universally 
conceded  to  be  the  best  material.  The  results  would 
justify  us,  therefore,  in  the  statement  that  memory  in 
its  purest  form  is  better  7T 
among  women  than 
among  men. 

A  record  was  also 
made  of  the  type  of  im¬ 
agery  used  by  each  per¬ 
son  in  memorizing  the 
syllables.  The  difficulty 
of  making  exact  and 
adequate  observations  of 
one’s  own  imagery  is 
great  even  for  individ¬ 
uals  with  special  train¬ 
ing,  and  is  still  greater  for  the  unpracticed.  The 
results  in  the  present  case  were  made  as  trustworthy 
as  possible  by  questioning  each  subject  at  once  and 
carefully  as  to  the  exact  nature  of  his  mental  proce¬ 
dure.  The  great  variety  of  combinations  of  imagery 
used  makes  their  tabulation  in  significant  form  difficult. 
The  scheme  which  has  been  followed  in  the  present 
case  is  to  classify  all  the  cases  in  which  imagery  of 
the  same  sort  predominates  together.  For  instance, 
all  the  cases  in  which  auditory  imagery  is  predominant 
are  put  together.  Among  these  are  some  in  which 
only  auditory  imagery  was  used,  and  some  in  which 
visual,  or  motor,  or  both,  were  secondary  to  the  audi¬ 
tory.  Where  two  or  three  types  of  imagery  were  used 
so  equally  that  no  one  could  be  called  predominant, 


Memory, 
series. 

Abscissas  —  number  of  repetitions. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

- - women;  -  men. 


98 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


the  case  is  classified  according  to  the  components,  as 
auditory-motor,  visual-motor,  etc.  It  is  of  course 
impossible  to  assert  that  the  type  of  imagery  used  in 
this  particular  piece  of  memorizingis  characteristic  for 
the  thinking  of  an  individual,  but  habit  must  play  a 
large  part  in  determining  the  imagery  to  be  used  in 
dealing  with  novel  material,  such  as  nonsense  syl¬ 
lables. 

TABLE  XII. 

Types  of  imagery  used  in  memorizing.’ 


Auditory 

Predominant. 

Visual 

Predominant. 

Motor 

Predominant. 

Auditory- 

Motor. 

Visual- 

Motor. 

Auditory- 

Visual 

Auditory- 

Visual- 

Motor. 

<5 

Women .... 

4 

9 

3 

7 

I 

I 

<73 

Men . 

13 

S 

2 

3 

2 

3 .22 

Women .... 

I 

10 

6 

2 

4 

I 

>73 

Men . 

8 

8 

2 

I 

2 

I 

2 

Table  XII  gives  the  classification  of  the  types  of 
imagery.  It  shows  that  there  were  more  men  than 
women  in  whom  auditory  imagery  was  predominant, 
while  women  were  more  numerous  in  the  visual  and 
motor  types.  This  statement  holds  for  both  the  audi¬ 
tory  and  the  visual  series.  The  same  tendency  is  further 
illustrated  by  the  fact  that  when  the  series  is  given 
auditorially  there  are  far  more  men  in  the  auditory 
division  than  in  the  visual.  When  the  series  is  given 
visually  the  relation  is  not  reversed,  but  the  visual 
presentation  tends  to  induce  visual  imagery,  with  the 

1  In  the  visual  series  only  twenty-four  men  and  twenty-four  women 
are  tabulated.  The  record  of  the  type  of  imagery  was  omitted  by  mis¬ 
take  in  two  cases. 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


99 


result  that  the  men  are  about  equally  divided  between 
the  two  classes.  The  same  holds  true  with  reference 
to  visual  imagery.  In  visual  presentation  there  are 
far  more  women  in  the  visual  categories  than  in  the 
auditory,  while  in  auditory  presentation  they  are  more 
equally  divided  between  the  two. 

No  differences  were  discoverable  in  the  use  of  asso¬ 
ciations  in  memorizing  or  in  the  formation  of  groups. 
The  great  majority  of  the  subjects,  both  men  and 
women,  learned  the  series  in  groups.  In  most  cases  the 
first  and  last  groups  were  learned  before  the  middle. 
The  syllables  from  the  sixth  to  the  eighth  were  particu¬ 
larly  hard.  About  half  of  the  subjects,  both  men  and 
women,  used  associations  of  some  sort  in  memorizing. 
These  were  of  the  most  various  kinds.  Some  were  asso¬ 
ciations  of  a  few  syllables  with  words  ;  a  few  subjects 
associated  most  of  the  syllables  with  words  ;  some  asso¬ 
ciated  each  syllable  with  a  finger  tip  ;  and  one  subject 
was  obliged  to  connect  each  syllable  with  a  spot  on 
the  wall  before  he  could  remember  them.  In  a 
few  cases  the  first  letters  were  associated,  or  the  vow¬ 
els  of  successive  syllables.  But  none  of  these  schemes 
were  characteristic  of  either  sex. 

The  results  of  the  memory  tests  may  be  summar¬ 
ized  as  follows:  Judged  by  the  approved  memory 
test,  i.  e.,  the  memorizing  of  nonsense  syllables,  the 
women  memorize  more  rapidly  than  the  men.  There 
is  no  difference  between  the  men  and  the  women  in 
retentiveness.  In  memorizing  nonsense  syllables  vis¬ 
ual  imagery  is  more  common  among  the  women  and 
auditory  among  the  men.  No  difference  between  the 
sexes  was  discovered  in  the  use  of  associations  in  mem¬ 
orizing,  or  in  the  habit  of  memorizing  in  groups. 


IOO 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


B.  ASSOCIATION. 

Experimental  research  in  the  field  of  association  has 
been  directed  to  two  different  problems  :  first,  the 
nature  of  the  relation  between  the  idea  furnished  and 
the  idea  called  up,  or  the  quality  of  the  association; 
and  second,  the  rapidity  with  which  the  associated 
idea  follows  the  given  idea,  which  is  a  quantitative 
measure  of  the  association  process.  Only  the  second 
of  these  two  problems,  that  of  the  rapidity  of  the  asso¬ 
ciation  process,  was  investigated  in  this  series  of  tests. 
An  attempt  was  made  to  deal  also  with  the  qualitative 
aspect  of  association,  but  it  was  abandoned  for  two 
reasons  :  first,  because  the  classification  of  the  associ¬ 
ations,  when  obtained,  was  so  difficult ;  and  second, 
because  it  was  so  hard  to  obtain  satisfactory  results 
from  untrained  subjects.  Until  there  is  more  unanim¬ 
ity  in  the  psychological  world  about  the  best  classifi¬ 
cation  of  associations,  and  the  evaluation  of  the  classi¬ 
fied  results,  it  seems  useless  to  employ  the  test  for  a 
comparative  study.  Moreover,  the  test  is  a  difficult 
one  to  apply.  Many  subjects  when  asked  to  write  down 
the  first  word  or  phrase  which  comes  in  association 
with  a  given  word  find  themselves  quite  at  a  loss. 
They  insist  that  what  comes  naturally  is  not  some  other 
word  or  phrase,  but  first  the  image  of  the  word  itself, 
and  second,  some  scene  or  train  of  ideas  which  it 
starts.  If  a  single  word  or  phrase  is  required  the  pro¬ 
cess  seems  entirely  forced  and  bizarre  to  them. 

The  quantitative  test,  on  the  other  hand,  proved  to 
be  much  easier  to  make,  and  its  results  are  easily  formu¬ 
lated,  though  perhaps  not  easily  interpreted.  The 
method  employed  was  that  of  requiring  the  subjects 
to  write  down  as  rapidly  as  possible  for  a  fixed  time 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


IOI 


the  train  of  ideas  started  by  a  given  word.  In  order 
to  make  the  process  as  natural  as  possible  no  restric¬ 
tions  whatever  were  made  upon  the  field  of  association. 
The  subject  was  not  required  to  come  back  to  the 
word  given  for  each  fresh  association.  He  was  told  to 
be  just  as  natural  as  possible;  to  let  his  thoughts  take 
their  course,  whether  that  consisted  in  clinging  to  the 
given  word  or  in  wandering  away  from  it ;  to  attempt 
to  catch  the  ideas  as  they  passed,  and  indicate  them 
on  paper  by  a  word  or  phrase  as  rapidly  as  possible 
while  making  the  chain  of  associations  clear  to  the 
reader.  The  time  allowed  for  each  word  was  one  min¬ 
ute  and  thirty  seconds.  The  subject  was  allowed  in 
each  case  to  finish  the  word  or  phrase  on  which  he  was 
engaged  at  the  end  of  the  time. 

In  order  that  the  results  might  be  comparable  for 
any  two  subjects  it  was  of  great  importance  to  have 
words  which  would  have  approximately  the  same  sug¬ 
gestiveness  for  both.  Since  the  university  life  was 
the  only  field  of  experience  which  was  sure  to  be  com¬ 
mon  to  all  the  subjects,  a  list  of  words  connected  with 
distinctively  university  institutions  was  selected.  They 
were  the  following  : 


1.  Registration. 

2.  Convocation. 

3.  Library. 

4.  Flunk. 

5.  Matriculation. 


6.  Faculty. 

7.  Gymnasium. 

8.  Football. 

9.  Dean. 

10.  Degree. 


The  counting  of  the  number  of  associations  after 
they  were  written  was  by  no  means  a  simple  task. 
They  were  frequently  written  down  in  detached  words 
or  phrases  which  afforded  a  convenient  indication  of 
what  was  to  be  regarded  as  a  distinct  association. 


102 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


i 


u 


12 

Rig.  53- 
Association.  Word  I. 

Abscissas  —  number  of  associations. 
Ordinates  — number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women ;  - men. 

done  with  the  other  form  ? 


20 


But  in  many  cases  they  were  written  in  long  com¬ 
pound  phrases  or  sentences,  and  it  was  often  difficult 
to  decide  whether  a  given  phrase  was  to  be  regarded 

as  one  association  or 
two.  For  instance, 
consider  the  phrase, 
“Groups  of  students 
on  the  campus.”  Is 
that  to  be  regarded  as 
one  association  or  two? 
If  it  were  written, 
“Groups  of  students  — 
campus,”  it  would  be 
evidently  two  associa¬ 
tions,  but  what  is  to  be 
Is  the  difference  merely 
one  of  the  method  of  recording,  or  does  it  represent  a 
real  difference  in  the 
association  process?  If 
the  latter,  then  “Groups 
of  students  on  the  cam¬ 
pus”  would  have  to  be 
regarded  as  one  definite 
idea,  while  “Groups  of 
students— campus,” 
would  represent  one 
idea  calling  up  another 
by  a  fresh  association. 

But  even  if  this  latter 
interpretation  were  psychologically  the  more  accurate, 
would  it  be  fair  to  count  the  first  example  as  one  asso¬ 
ciation  and  the  second  as  two?  The  time  factor  would 
then  play  a  very  disturbing  role.  Those  subjects  who 


Association.  Word  2. 

Abscissas  —  number  of  associations. 
Ordinates — -number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women ;  - men. 


20 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


103 


v  n 
Fig.  55. 

Association.  Word  3. 

Abscissas— number  of  associations. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 
....  women ;  - men. 


took  time  to  write  out  their  associations  very  definitely 
would  appear  in  the  result  as  having  an  extremely  small 
number  of  ideas  within  the  given  time.  It  seemed 

fairer,  therefore,  to  count 
each  clearly  analyzable 
idea  as  a  separate  asso¬ 
ciation,  even  in  cases 
where  its  correct  psycho¬ 
logical  interpretation  was 
not  that  of  a  distinct  as¬ 
sociation,  but  rather  that 
of  one  partly  organized 
factor  in  an  association. 
In  the  example  cited, 
both  records  would  be  counted  as  two  associations. 
The  possibility  for  errors  and  inconsistencies  in  count¬ 
ing  the  associations  is  - 
undeniable.  It  was 
avoided  as  far  as  possi¬ 
ble  by  deciding  on  the 
above  criterion  for  sepa¬ 
rating  the  associations, 
and  by  going  over  the 
records  several  times  to 
make  sure  that  similar 
cases  were  always 
counted  alike. 

The  ten  curves,  one 
for  each  word,  showing 
the  results  of  the  tests,  appear  in  Figs  53-62.  In 
words  5,  6,  9,  and  10  the  women  have  a  distinctly 
greater  number  of  associations  than  the  men.  The 
curve  for  their  results  is  seen  to  be,  on  the  whole, 


4  'b  /2  /& 

Fig.  56. 

Association.  Word  4. 

Abscissas  —  number  of  associations. 
Ordinates — number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  women  ;  - men. 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


104 


above  that  of  the  men  in  the  higher  ranges,  i.  <?.,  from 
ten  or  twelve  to  twenty  associations  ;  in  words  5  and  9 
the  women’s  curve  also  extends  further  than  that  of 

the  men.  In  the  lower 
ranges, 0-10,  of  these 
curves,  on  the  contrary, 
the  curve  for  the  men  is 
above  that  for  the  women. 
In  word  4  the  women 
have  a  slightly  greater 
number  of  associations. 
In  words  2,  3,  7,  and  8 
the  two  are  too  nearly 
lx  u,  io  equal  to  make  any  dis- 
Fig,S7-  tinctions,  while  in  word 

Association.  Word  5.  _  .1  _  __  1  „ 

,  .  .  .  I  the  men  have  a  some- 

Abscissas — number  of  associations. 

Ordinates -number  of  subjects.  what  greater  number  of 

- women; - men.  associations.  The  total 

result  out  of  the  ten  words  is,  therefore,  as  follows: 
one  word — associations  by  men 
more  numerous;  four  words  — 
men  and  women  equal;  and  five 
words — associations  by  women 
more  numerous.  The  only  word 
which  might  be  criticised  as 
possessing  more  suggestive 
power  for  one  sex  than  for  the 
other — football  (No.  8)  —  did 
not  prove  to  call  forth  more 
associations  from  men  than 
from  women. 

A  combination  of  the  ten 
curves  into  one  shows  very  distinctly  the  advantage 


Association.  Word  6. 
Abscissas — number  of  as¬ 
sociations. 

Ordinates — number  of  sub¬ 
jects. 

-  -  -  -  women ;  - men. 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


i°5 


of  the  women  on  the  side  of  number  of  associations. 
The  curve  was  formed  by  a  simple  summation  of  the 
ten  curves  for  women  into  one  curve,  and  of  the  ten 

curves  for  men  into  an¬ 
other.  All  the  cases  of 
association  series  of  less 
than  two  by  women 
were  grouped  together, 
all  those  between  two 
and  four  together,  and 
so  on  for  the  entire 
series.  The  same  pro¬ 
ceeding  was  followed 
for  the  men.  The  re¬ 
sulting  figure  (63)shows 
that  the  curve  for  the  men  starts  nearer  the  zero  point 
than  that  of  the  women 
and  keeps  above  it  as 
far  as  eight.  It  crosses 
the  women’s  curve  at 
ten  and  falls  far  below 
it  at  twelve;  at  fourteen 
and  sixteen  it  is  slightly 
above,  but  falls  below 
again  at  eighteen  and 
twenty.  In  general, 
then,  there  are  more 
cases  of  short  associa¬ 
tion  series  belonging  to 
the  men  than  to  the 
women,  and  more  cases 
of  long  association  series  belonging  to  the  women  than 
to  the  men.  We  may  conclude,  therefore,  that  at  least 


Association.  Word  8. 

Abscissas — number  of  associations. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women;  -  men. 


Association.  Word  7. 

Abscissas — number  of  associations. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women ; - men. 


io6 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


Fig.  6i. 

Association.  Word  9. 

Abscissas — numberof  associations 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects 
-  -  women ;  - men. 


under  the  conditions  of  the  experiment,  women’s 
minds  form  associations  more  rapidly  than  men’s. 

In  counting  the  total  number  of  associations  the 

fact  that  the  number  of 
different  topics  touched 
upon  within  the  single  as¬ 
sociation  series  did  not 
correspond  with  the  total 
number  of  associations  was 
10  very  noticeable.  Some 
short  series  covered  sev¬ 
eral  entirely  distinct  top¬ 
ics,  while  many  long  series 
consisted  merely  of  many 
details  about  a  single  topic.  The  associations  were 
accordingly  counted  a  second  time  with  reference  to 
the  number  of  separate  topics  touched  upon  within 
the  series  Details  about  7 
one  event  or  one  per¬ 
son,  or  reflections  on 
one  idea  were  counted 
as  a  single  topic. 

The  results  are  given 
in  Table  XIII.  They 
show  that  the  men 
touched  upon  a  smaller 
number  of  topics  in  the 
course  of  their  associa¬ 
tions  than  did  the 
women.  For  every  one  of  the  ten  words,  there  were 
more  men  than  women  who  touched  upon  not  more 
than  two  topics.  It  was  also  true  that  all  the  highest 
records  were  those  of  men,  but  these  were  few  in  num- 


Association. 


Fig.  62. 

Word  10. 

Abscissas  —  number  of  associations. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women ;  - men. 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


107 


TABLE  XIII. 

Association.  Number  of  topics  touched  upon  in  the  associations 
for  each  of  the  ten  words. 


Word. 

Topics. 

2 

4 

6 

8 

IO 

12 

14 

16 

Women  .  . 

4 

13 

2 

3 

2 

I 

I 

Men . 

I  I 

s 

2 

5 

I 

I 

Women  . . 

6 

1 1 

6 

1 

I 

2 

Men . 

7 

6 

S 

4 

2 

I 

Women  . . 

9 

10 

4 

I 

I 

3 

Men . 

10 

6 

5 

3 

I 

Women  .  . 

9 

8 

4 

3 

I 

4 

Men . 

10 

7 

6 

2 

Women  . . 

8 

8 

4 

3 

2 

5 

Men . 

12 

S 

3 

3 

I 

I 

Women  .  . 

3 

10 

6 

5 

I 

6 

Men . 

8 

7 

6 

I 

3 

Women  . . 

9 

8  ' 

3 

5 

7 

Men . 

12 

6 

2 

3 

2 

Women  .  . 

7 

6 

8 

2 

2 

8 

Men . 

12 

7 

3 

I 

1 

I 

Women  .  . 

5 

6 

10 

2 

I 

I 

9 

Men . 

10 

5 

s 

3 

2 

Women  . . 

5 

8 

4 

6 

2 

10 

Men . 

7 

I  I 

2 

3 

I 

I 

i°8  THE  mental  traits  of  sex 

ber.  The  difference  is  shown  more  plainly  by  the 

curves  plotted  from  the 
table  (Fig.  64).  These 
were  formed  like  the 
curves  for  the  total 
number  of  associations 
for  the  ten  words  (Fig. 
63).  The*  abscissas 
mean  the  number  of 
associations,  and  the 
ordinates  the  number  of 
cases  in  all  ten  words 
in  which  the  series  of 
associations  touched 
upon  the  number  of 
topics  represented  by 
the  abscissas.  The  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  men 
to  stick  to  one  topic 
rather  than  to  wander 
over  several  is  shown  by 
the  far  greater  number 
of  cases  in  which  not 
more  than  two  topics 
were  touched  upon  in 
their  series. 

The  outcome  of  the 
associationtest  is,  there¬ 
fore,  that  women  have 
a  greater  number  of  as¬ 
sociations  in  a  given 
length  of  time  than 
men,  and  that  they 
cover  a  greater  number 
of  topics.  There  are  two  factors  which  seem  to  be 


Association.  Combination  of  ten  tests. 
Abscissas — number  of  topics  touched 
upon. 

Ordinates — total  number  of  occur¬ 
rences  under  each  group. 

- women  ;  - men. 


Association.  Combination  of  the 
ten  tests. 

Abscissas — number  of  associations. 

Ordinates — total  number  of  occur¬ 
rences  of  associations  of  each 
group. 

-  -  -  -  women ;  - men. 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


109 

of  equal  importance  in  logical  processes  :  one  is  the 
ability  to  concentrate  the  attention  on  one  topic,  and 
the  other  is  the  presence  of  a  large  number  and  great 
variety  of  associations.  The  solution  of  problems  is 
usually  effected  through  some  association  which  is  not 
at  first  seen  to  be  relevant.  Concentration  of  atten¬ 
tion,  if  it  means  mere  sticking  to  one  idea,  is  of  little 
value  in  intellectual  processes,  while  mere  variety  of 
association,  without  concentration  of  attention  is 
equally  useless.  The  association  test  indicates  that 
men  have  the  advantage  in  one  of  these  factors  and 
women  in  the  other.  It  furnishes  no  ground  for  any 
statement  about  comparative  intellectual  ability. 

C.  INGENUITY. 

The  mental  processes  included  under  the  general 
head  of  ingenuity  are  very  complex  and  difficult  of 
analysis.  The  only  attempt  made  to  measure  this 
faculty  consisted  in  determining  the  time  required  by 
different  individuals  for  the  solution  of  the  same  prob¬ 
lem.  Differences  in  method,  important  as  they  are 
for  psychological  analysis,  were  disregarded  because 
of  the  extreme  difficulty  of  determining  them  accu¬ 
rately  and  classifying  them.  The  process  was  evalu¬ 
ated  merely  in  terms  of  effectiveness  in  obtaining  a 
solution  quickly.  In  order  to  give  different  types  of 
mind  approximately  equal  advantages,  five  different 
tests  of  ingenuity  were  selected.  They  varied  from 
one  which  required  primarily  perceptual  quickness,  to 
one  whose  solution  depended  chiefly  on  abstract  rea¬ 
soning.  Each  of  the  five  experiments  will  be  described 
and  discussed  separately. 


I  IO 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


The  experimenter  was  led  to  regret  that  a  more 
systematic  attempt  had  not  been  made  to  record  the 
methods  of  solving  the  problems.  Although  it  seemed 
doubtful  whether  or  not  sexual  differences  would  have 
been  revealed  by  this  procedure,  yet  it  is  prob¬ 
able  that  some  valuable  results  in  the  technique  of 
the  solution  of  a  problem,  and  in  the  relative  effect¬ 
iveness  of  various  methods,  might  have  been  obtained. 
Wherever  interesting  differences  of  method  were 
noticed  they  have  been  mentioned,  not  because  of 
their  bearing  on  the  problem  in  hand,  but  because 
they  seemed  suggestive  of  further  possible  investiga¬ 
tions  of  the  more  complex  mental  processes. 

The  chief  source  of  error,  both  in  the  ingenuity 
tests  and  in  the  subsequent  tests  on  general  informa¬ 
tion,  was  that  since  the  same  problems  were  used  for 
all,  some  individuals  might  have  been  told  what  they 
were  by  those  who  had  already  been  subjected  to  the 
experiment.  All  the  precautions  possible  were  taken 
against  this.  The  subjects  were  requested  not  to  tell 
what  the  problems  were,  and  were  asked  whether  or 
not  they  had  been  told  what  they  were  before  the 
problems  were  given.  There  were  very  few  cases 
where  there  was  any  suspicion  on  the  part  of  the  ex¬ 
perimenter  of  any  previous  knowledge.  Even  grant¬ 
ing  that  there  is  an  unknown  error  in  the  results  due 
to  this  cause,  they  are  fairer  than  they  would  have 
been  if  different  problems  had  been  used  for  different 
subjects,  because  of  the  impossibility  of  measuring 
the  difficulty  of  a  problem  exactly. 

The  first  ingenuity  test  was  one  selected  because 
its  solution  depended  chiefly  on  skill  in  manipulating 
and  transforming  a  visual  perception,  although  it  was 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


1 1 1 


not  solved  through  perception  by  all  subjects.  Fif¬ 
teen  matches  were  laid  on  the  table  in  such  a  way 
that  they  formed  five  squares  in  the  relative  position 
shown  in  Fig.  65. 

The  subject  was  then  asked  if  he  had  ever  seen 

the  figure  before  or  knew  its _ _ _ 

purpose.  One  of  the  fifty 
—  a  woman — had  seen  it 

before,  but  had  forgotten  its _ 

purpose.  She  found  the  so¬ 
lution  in  ten  seconds,  but 

since  she  was  doubtless  as-  - - 

sisted  by  her  previous  ac¬ 
quaintance  with  the  figure,  her  record  is  not  included 
in  the  curve.  The  others,  upon  stating  that  they  had 
no  previous  knowledge  of  the  figure  or  its  purpose, 
were  told  that  the  problem  was  to  remove  three 
matches  from  it  in  such  a  way  that  three  perfect 
squares  only  remained;  in  other  words,  to  remove  three 
matches  in  such  a  way  that  every  match  remaining 
on  the  table  after  the  three  were  removed  should  be  a 
part  of  a  perfect  square.  No  rearranging  of  the  re¬ 
maining  matches  was  allowed.  The  subjects  were  all 
given  exactly  the  same  directions,  and  were  left  en¬ 
tirely  free  to  use  any  method  they  chose.  Removing 
matches  on  trial  was  permitted.  Time  was  counted 
from  the  moment  the  conditions  were  understood. 

Three  different  methods  of  solution  were  employed. 
The  first  consisted  in  trying,  either  actually  or  in 
imagination,  the  effect  of  removing  various  combina¬ 
tions  of  three  matches  ;  the  second  in  attacking  the 
problem  from  the  standpoint  of  the  solution  and  try¬ 
ing  to  discover  what  combination  of  three  squares 


I  I  2 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


would  leave  three  superfluous  matches ;  the  third  in 
a  logical  process  like  the  following :  There  are  fifteen 
matches  in  the  figure ;  removing  three  leaves  twelve. 
The  twelve  remaining  matches  must  form  three 
squares,  showing  that  the  three  squares  must  be  de¬ 
tached,  i.  e.,  can  have  no  side  common  to  any  two 
squares.  There  are  only  three  squares  in  the  figure 
which  conform  to  these  conditions.  It  is  easy  to 
select  these  three  and  to  see  that  the  removal  of  three 
matches  leaves  them  alone  on  the  table.  In  most 
cases  more  than  one  of  these  methods  were  tried 
before  the  solution  was  obtained.  In  general  the 
second  method  was  quickest,  but  in  the  case  of  the 
most  rapid  solutions,  it  was  usually  difficult  for  the 
subject  to  tell  what  method  he  had  used  ;  all  he  could 
say  was  that  he  saw,  almost  as  soon  as  he  looked  at 
the  figure,  which  were  the  required  matches.  The 
logical  solution  was  used  in  only  a  few  cases.  It  took 
from  five  to  fifteen  minutes.  The  long  times  were 
filled  out  by  a  more  or  less  aimless  trying  of  various 
combinations  of  three  matches. 

The  curves  showing  the  result  of  the  first  ingenuity 
test  are  given  in  Fig.  66.  The  women  are,  as  a  whole, 
quicker.  The  advantage  of  the  women  in  this  case  is 
probably  a  little  greater  than  is  represented  in  the 
curves.  One  woman  who  was  very  quick  at  such 
problems  was  excluded  from  the  tabulation  of  results 
because  she  was  under  the  impression  that  she  had  seen 
the  puzzle  before.  The  woman  who  is  recorded  as 
“failed”  was  one  of  the  first  people  tested.  She  gave 
up  after  working  fifteen  minutes.  (In  subsequent 
cases  the  subjects  were  required  to  work  until  the 
solution  was  obtained.)  However,  even  as  the  curve 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


1  *3 

stands,  there  is  a  distinct  advantage  on  the  side  of 
the  women.  There  are  more  of  them  in  the  range  of 
short  times,  and  there  are  five  men  who  took  longer 
than  the  slowest  woman. 

The  second  ingenuity  test  was  designed  to  call  a 
pure  process  of  reasoning  into  play.  It  consisted  of 
a  puzzling  mathematical  problem,  perfectly  simple  in 
the  computations  involved  but  demanding  a  somewhat 


Ingenuity.  First  test. 

Abscissas  —  time  in  minutes. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women ;  -  men. 

complicated  process  of  reasoning  for  its  solution  —  a 
problem  in  which  it  was  easy  to  become  confused 
unless  all  the  factors  were  sharply  separated  and 
clearly  grasped.  The  problem  was  handed  written 
to  the  subject.  He  was  told  that  it  involved  no  diffi¬ 
cult  computations.  The  process  was  timed  from  the 
moment  the  problem  had  been  read  through.  A  fail¬ 
ure  was  recorded  only  in  cases  in  which  the  subject 
had  worked  from  forty-five  minutes  to  an  hour,  and 
was  completely  hopeless  of  getting  any  solution.  The 
problem  was  the  following:  “A  man  swimming  in  a 
river  finds  that  he  can  swim  three  times  as  fast  down 
stream  as  up  stream.  The  river  flows  at  the  rate  of  a 
mile  an  hour.  Find  his  rate  of  swimming  in  still 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


water.”  Any  solution  which  could  be  explained  was 
accepted.  A  mere  stumbling  upon  the  correct  answer 
was  not  called  a  solution. 

The  curves  of  results  for  the  second  test  (Fig.  67) 
show  no  marked  difference  between  the  men  and  the 
women  in  quickness  of  calculation.  On  an  average  the 
men  have  somewhat  the  advantage.  Two  of  the  men 


Ingenuity.  Second  test. 

Abscissas — time  in  minutes. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women  ;  -  men. 

with  very  good  records  had  been  teaching  mathematics 
within  a  year,  while  none  of  the  women  were  primarily 
concerned  with  it.  Taking  this  fact  into  considera¬ 
tion,  the  difference  between  the  two  curves  is  insig¬ 
nificant. 

The  third  problem  involved  to  some  extent  both 
perceptual  quickness  and  reasoning.  The  apparatus 
consisted  of  a  checker-board,  composed  of  red  and 
yellow  squares,  and  eight  men.  The  board  had  eight 
squares,  four  of  each  color  on  each  side,  like  an  ordi¬ 
nary  checker-board.  The  problem  was  to  place  the 
eight  men  on  the  board  in  such  a  way  that  no  two  were 
on  the  same  straight  line  of  squares,  either  perpendicu¬ 
larly,  horizontally,  or  diagonally.  Both  red  and  yellow 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


1 1 5 


Ingenuity.  Third  test. 
Abscissas — time  in  minutes. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 
-  -  -  -  women  ;  - men. 


squares  could  be  used.  The  problem  is  far  too  com¬ 
plicated  to  be  solved  by  inspection,  nor  can  it  be 
reasoned  out  in  detail.  The  process  in  solving  it  con¬ 
sisted  in  adopting  some  general  method,  and  trying  it, 
modifying  it  if  necessary,  until  the  proper  combination 
was  hit  upon.  There  ? 
was  one  method  which 
gave  a  logical  certainty 
of  some  solution,  but 
only  one  or  two  sub¬ 
jects  discovered  it. 

Most  of  them  pro¬ 
ceeded  by  starting  at 
some  part  of  the  board 
and  trying  to  work 
systematically  from 
that  point.  If  that 
failed,  another  portion  was  taken  as  starting-point  and 
the  trial  made  again.  Some  few  placed  all  eight  men 
in  a  row  along  one  side  of  the  board,  and  worked  by 
moving  seven  of  them  out  from  this  position,  varying 
the  placing  until  the  conditions  were  fulfilled.  In 
almost  all  cases  the  subject  felt  that  the  solution, 
when  obtained,  was  largely  a  matter  of  chance.  He 
had  simply  stumbled  upon  the  right  combination, 
rather  than  really  solved  a  problem.  Very  few  of 
them  could  have  reproduced  the  solution  after  the 
men  were  removed  from  the  board.  However,  the 
problem  certainly  required  original  method,  quickness 
in  seeing  complicated  forms,  and  perseverance. 

In  this  test  the  men  show  themselves  decidedly 
superior  to  the  women  (Fig.  68).  There  were  two 
women  who  were  quicker  than  any  of  the  men,  but  there 


1 16  THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 

were  also  two  more  women  than  men  who  failed.  The 
superiority  of  the  men  is  shown  in  the  great  majority 
of  them  in  the  region  from  fifteen  to  thirty  minutes. 
It  is  very  difficult  to  evaluate  this  difference,  because 
of  the  indefinite  nature  of  the  problem.  Most  of  the 
women  expressed  a  great  distaste  for  all  such  problems, 
because  they  were  uninteresting.  Many  of  them  were 
so  uninterested  that  they  did  not  really  work  at  it. 
Whether  the  men  found  it  equally  uninteresting,  but 
forced  themselves  to  work  in  spite  of  lack  of  interest, 
or  whether  the  problem  appealed  to  them  as  more 
interesting,  it  is  difficult  to  say.  From  the  voluntary 
comments  of  the  subjects  the  latter  hypothesis  seems 
more  probable,  but  in  this  case  we  are  confronted  by 
the  further  question  why  such  a  problem  should  have 
more  interest  for  men  than  for  women.  The  test  may 
point  to  a  greater  interest  on  the  part  of  men  in  a  prob¬ 
lem,  merely  as  a  problem,  regardless  of  any  possible 
usefulness,  or  any  further  application. 

The  fourth  trial  of  ingenuity  was  a  mechanical  prob¬ 
lem.  The  subject  was  required  to  find  out  the  method 
of  operating  the  apparatus  used  for  determining  the 
light  threshold  described  above  on  p.  76. 

The  test  was  always  made  shortly  after  the  deter¬ 
mination  of  the  light  threshold,  when  there  was  usually 
a  spontaneous  interest  in  the  apparatus.  The  neces¬ 
sity  for  uniformity  in  the  time  of  the  stimulus  was 
explained,  and  the  subject  was  told  that  his  problem 
was  to  find  out,  first,  how  a  constant  length  for  all  ex¬ 
posures  of  light  was  secured  automatically,  and  second, 
how  the  absolute  intensity  of  the  light  was  varied. 
He  was  told  that  he  might  do  anything  he  pleased 
with  the  apparatus,  except  take  out  screws,  which 
would  not  be  necessary  to  discover  its  workings. 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


ii  7 


The  apparatus  was  particularly  favorable  for  a  com¬ 
parative  test,  because  it  was  so  entirely  unfamiliar  to 
all  the  subjects.  The  mechanical  principles  involved 
in  it  were  all  very  elementary.  The  difficulty  was  to 
find  out  how  the  various  parts  worked  together.  Since 
the  apparatus  was  so  unique,  acquaintance  with  other 
mechanisms  was  of  as  little  assistance  as  possible, 
although  unquestionably  a  knowledge  of  mechanics  in 
general  is  of  assistance  in  solving  any  particular 
mechanical  problem,  however  unlike  previous  ones  it 
may  be. 

Two  difficulties  were  experienced  by  all  the  subjects 
in  this  problem.  The  first  was  in  making  the  connec¬ 
tion  between  the  metal  ball  and  the  inclined  trough. 
The  ball  was  not  fonnd  in  the  trough,  but  lying  on  the 
table  by  the  apparatus,  either  in  an  open  box  or  in  the 
stop  at  the  foot  of  the  padded  incline.  The  second 
difficulty,  which  was  still  more  serious,  was  to  discover 
that  the  ball  could  be  released  and  the  screen  opened 
by  a  single  movement.  The  fact  that  the  ball  would 
close  the  screen  was  found  out  very  quickly.  The 
method  of  regulating  the  absolute  intensity  of  the  light 
gave  but  little  trouble. 

Only  twenty-one  women  and  twenty-two  men  are 
recorded  in  the  curves  for  this  test,  because  it  was  not 
given  to  the  first  subjects  on  whom  the  experiments 
were  performed.  The  apparatus  was  explained  to 
them  at  their  request.  When  later  the  decision  to  use 
it  for  an  ingenuity  test  was  made  it  was  of  course  im¬ 
possible  to  apply  the  test  to  these  subjects. 

In  the  fourth  test  the  men  have  a  somewhat  better 
record  on  the  whole  than  the  women  (Fig.  69),  al¬ 
though  the  difference  is  not  marked.  There  isaconsider- 
able  majority  of  the  men  in  the  region  under  fifteen 


1 1 8 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


io  Jo  30  fo 

Fig.  69. 

Ingenuity.  Fourth  test. 
Abscissas  —  time  in  minutes. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 
-  -  -  -  women  ;  - men. 


minutes,  but  they  are  also  somewhat  in  excess  at  the 
other  end  of  the  curve.  None  of  the  women  failed  to 
get  a  solution  in  an  hour,  while  two  men  worked  from 
an  hour  and  a  quarter  to  an  hour  and  a  half  and  failed. 

The  fifth  ingenuity  experiment  was  also  the  solu¬ 
tion  of  a  mechanical 
problem.  The  subject 
was  given  a  wooden 
model  of  a  very  simple 
combination  lock.  He 
was  told  that  it  was  a 
model  of  an  object  with 
the  use  of  which  he  was 
perfectly  familiar,  al¬ 
though  the  form  was 
unusual,  and  that  he  was  to  find  out  what  it  was  and 
how  it  worked  He  was  told  whether  or  not  he  was 
correct  when  he  thought  he  knew  its  use.  Most  of 
the  subjects  could  tell  what  it  was  before  they  discov¬ 
ered  how  it  worked,  although  in  a  few  cases  the  reverse 
was  true. 

A  diagram  of  the  lock  is  given  in  Fig.  70.  The 
inside  of  the  lock  is  shown  in  its  locked  position,  i.  e., 
with  the  bolt  A  out.  The  bolt  was  held  in  place  by  a 
rod  at  B,  which  passed  through  a  long,  narrow  open¬ 
ing,  leaving  the  bolt  free  to  move  back  and  forth  the 
distance  of  the  opening,  and  also  up  and  down  about  the 
rod  as  axis,  from  the  top  of  the  lock  to  the  bottom.  A 
spring,  C,  passed  from  the  inner  end  of  the  bolt  A  to 
a  rod  fastened  to  the  wall  of  the  lock  at  D.  E  and  F 
represent  pegs  which  moved  freely  about  their  axes. 
Handles  from  these  pegs  projected  about  one  inch 
through  the  wall  of  the  lock.  To  unlock  it,  the  peg 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


E  was  first  turned  so  as  to  raise  the  bolt  toward  F. 
When  the  bolt  was  at  its  highest  point  the  catch,  G, 
was  opposite  the  peg  F.  When  F  was  then  turned  so 
that  its  thin  edge  pointed  to  the  back  of  the  lock,  it 
carried  the  bolt  with  it,  and  braced  it  inside  of  the 
lock  so  that  none  of  it 
projected.  The  lock 
was  then  unlocked.  To 
lock  it,  it  was  only 
necessary  to  turn  the 
peg  F  back  to  the  posi¬ 
tion  shown  in  the  fig¬ 
ure,  when  the  bolt, 
through  the  action  of 
the  spring  C,  at  once 
flew  back  to  its  original 
position.  The  lock  was  always  given  to  the  subject 
in  its  locked  position  as  shown  in  the  sketch. 

The  chief  difficulty  experienced  in  this  test  was  in 
discovering  that  the  bolt  would  move  in  and  out,  as 
well  as  up  and  down.  The  up-and-down  motion  was 
apparent  as  soon  as  the  pegs  were  moved,  but  the 
opening  in  the  bolt  on  which  it  moved  in  and  out  was 
so  far  back  that  it  could  not  be  seen  by  looking  in  at 
the  open  end  of  the  lock,  and  the  subjects  were  not 
allowed  to  take  it  apart.  In  some  cases  the  in-and- 
out  movement  was  discovered  by  an  accidental  press¬ 
ing  on  the  bolt,  sometimes  it  occurred  to  the  subject 
to  try  that  movement  purposely,  and  sometimes  it 
was  found  by  experimenting  with  the  peg  F  and  its 
relation  to  the  catch  G.  After  the  in-and-out  motion 
was  6nce  discovered  the  solution  usually  came 
quickly.  At  first  most  of  the  subjects  explained  it  on 


I  20 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


Fig.  71. 

Ingenuity.  Fifth  test. 

Abscissas  —  time  in  minutes. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 
-  -  -  -  women :  - men. 


the  basis  of  the  up-and-down  movement  as  a  latch, 
and  worked  out  the  other  solution  only  when  they  were 
told  that  it  was  not  a  latch. 

The  results  show  a  very  evident  advantage  on  the 
side  of  the  men.  The  majority  of  them  solved  the 

problem  in  less  than 
twelve  minutes,  while 
the  majority  of  the 
women  took  more 
than  twelve  minutes. 
Two  women  failed  en¬ 
tirely,  while  all  the 
men  worked  out  the 
solution  in  forty-five 
minutes  or  less.  The 
difference  was  no  doubt  partly  due  to  the  fact  that  most 
of  the  men  were  familiar  with  the  construction  of  locks 
in  general  (although  none  of  them  knew  exactly  this 
form),  while  the  women  had  had  much  less  experience 
with  locks  of  any  sort. 

To  sum  up  the  results  of  the  ingenuity  tests,  they 
show  that,  on  the  whole,  the  men  have  a  decided  ad¬ 
vantage.  They  were  much  superior  to  the  women  in 
two  tests  (the  third  and  the  fifth),  somewhat  superior 
in  one  (the  fourth),  equal  in  one  (the  second) ,  and 
inferior  in  one  (the  first).  There  are  several  indica¬ 
tions  that  special  education  plays  some  part  in  these 
results.  Two  of  the  problems  in  solving  which  the 
men  proved  superior  to  the  women,  viz.,  those  of  the 
lock  and  the  visual  apparatus,  were  in  the  realm  of 
mechanics,  with  which  men  are  by  education  more 
familiar  than  women.  In  the  lock  problem  the  men’s 
superiority  is  marked,  while  in  the  visual-apparatus 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


I  2  I 


problem  it  is  only  slight.  The  latter  problem,  dealing 
as  it  did  with  a  unique  machine,  was  one  in  which 
previous  experience  with  mechanical  contrivances 
would  be  of  comparatively  little  assistance.  Experi¬ 
ence  with  locks,  however,  would  assist  materially  in 
solving  the  lock  problem,  though  the  form  of  the  lock 
was  unfamiliar.  Of  the  three  non-mechanical  prob¬ 
lems,  the  women  were  better  in  one,  the  men  were 
better  in  one,  and  they  were  equal  in  one. 

D.  GENERAL  INFORMATION. 

The  questions  to  test  general  information  were 
selected  as  a  test  for  college  students,  not  as  a  repre¬ 
sentative  set  of  questions  for  intelligent  people  in 
general.  The  correct  answers  were  facts  that  a  col¬ 
lege  student  of  the  third  or  fourth  year  could  fairly 
be  expected  to  know.  The  majority  of  them  were 
facts  that  the  average  college  student  must  have 
known  at  some  time  during  his  career.  It  was  sought 
to  make  the  questions  perfectly  fair  and  representa¬ 
tive  ;  there  were  no  catch  questions.  In  order  to 
make  the  evaluation  of  the  results  as  exact  as  possible, 
questions  of  fact  only  were  asked.  The  answers  are 
definitely  either  right  or  wrong  ;  they  can  be  marked 
with  very  little  variation  due  to  the  personal  equation. 
An  exact  evaluation  of  questions  of  theory  or  opinion 
is  much  more  difficult. 

The  questions  were  handed  to  the  subject  written, 
and  he  was  given  all  the  time  he  wished  to  answer 
them.  They  were  as  follows  : 

I.  Name  two  writers  of  English  who  wrote  before  Shake¬ 
speare  ;  give  the  title  of  one  work  of  each,  and  tell 
whether  it  was  poetry  or  prose. 


22 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


2.  Give  approximately  the  dates  of  the  period  during  which 
Shakespeare  wrote. 

3.  To  what  nation  and  what  period  does  each  of  the  follow¬ 
ing  writers  belong:  Pope,  Racine,  Schiller,  Coleridge, 
Balzac,  Dryden,  Petrarch,  Heine,  Browning,  Ibsen  ? 

4.  Name  one  work  of  each  of  the  following  writers  :  Tolstoi, 
Charlotte  Brontd,  Macaulay,  Victor  Hugo,  Nathaniel  Haw¬ 
thorne. 

5.  Who  wrote  the  following  works  :  Tom  Jones,  Cyrano  de 
Bergerac,  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,  The  Excursion, 
Pride  and  Prejudice,  Richard  Feverel,  Childe  Harold, 
Adam  Bede,  The  Vicar  of  Wakefield,  The  Newcomes  ? 

6.  Name  the  great  subdivisions  of  the  Aryan  race. 

7.  Name  the  nations  occupying  the  Tigris  and  Euphrates 
valley  previous  to  the  time  of  the  Roman  empire. 

8.  Name  ( a )  two  famous  lawgivers  of  ancient  Greece,  and 
( b )  three  Grecian  cities  which,  at  different  times,  held 
supremacy  over  Greece. 

9.  {a)  When  did  the  French  Revolution  occur  ? 

(6)  Name  three  men  who  were  prominent  in  French  poli¬ 
tics  during  the  five  years  subsequent  to  the  beginning 
of  the  Revolution. 

10.  (a)  When  did  the  Roman  republic  cease  ? 

(b)  What  form  of  government  followed  the  republic  ? 

(c)  Who  brought  about  the  change  ? 

11.  (a)  What  was  the  Missouri  Compromise  ? 

(b)  What  is  its  date,  approximately  ? 

12.  Is  hypnotism  an  established  scientific  fact,  or  is  it  fraud 
and  superstition  ? 

13.  How  does  the  binomial  theorem  lessen  labor  in  mathe¬ 
matics  ? 

14.  Solve  this  equation  for  x:  $x’  —  3-tr=2. 

15.  What  is  ( a )  a  sine  ?  (b)  a  tangent  ? 

16.  (a)  What  are  the  fundamental  laws  of  motion  ? 

(b)  Who  first  formulated  them  ? 

17.  What  does  it  mean  to  say  that  the  specific  gravity  of  a 
body  is  four  ? 

18.  What  is  the  principle  on  which  the  telephone  works  ? 

19.  Is  the  energy  furnished  by  an  electric  battery  created  in 
the  battery  ?  If  not,  where  does  it  come  from  ? 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


I23 

20.  Give  the  chemical  formula  for  water,  and  explain  its 
meaning. 

21.  What  happens  to  the  substance  of  a  piece  of  wood  when 
it  is  burned  ?  Is  any  of  it  destroyed  ? 

22.  Are  there  any  cases  of  spontaneous  generation  among 
living  organisms  ?  If  so,  where  ? 

23.  What  is  the  nature  of  the  simplest  type  of  animal  known  ? 

24.  Name  the  departments  of  biology,  and  the  other  branches 
which  have  contributed  most  to  establish  the  truth  of  the 
theory  of  evolution. 

25.  For  what  were  the  following  men  noted,  and  in  what 
century  did  they  live:  Weissmann,  Socrates,  Esterhazy, 
John  Stuart  Mill,  Bach,  Charlemagne,  Nebuchadnezzar, 
Kant,  Pericles,  Bacon,  Rameses  II.,  Goethe,  Alfred  the 
Great,  Dante,  Alexander,  Kepler,  Richelieu,  Edmund 
Spenser,  Galileo,  Herbert  Spencer  ? 

Even  in  questions  as  definite  as  these  some  diffi¬ 
culties  arise  in  grading.  For  instance,  where  approxi¬ 
mate  dates  are  asked  for,  how  close  an  approximation 
shall  be  demanded  ?  In  each  of  these  cases  a  more 
or  less  arbitrary  standard  was  adopted.  For  instance, 
if  the  dates  given  for  the  period  during  which  Shake¬ 
speare’s  plays  were  written  included  the  greater  part 
of  the  correct  period,  the  answer  was  given  full  credit; 
if  they  included  a  small  part  only,  part  credit  was 
allowed.  If  they  fell  entirely  out  of  the  correct  pe¬ 
riod,  no  credit  was  given.  Answers  to  the  third  ques¬ 
tion  were  considered  correct  as  to  date  if  the  correct 
century  was  given  for  each  of  the  writers  named. 
The  latter  part  of  the  eighteenth  century  was  con¬ 
sidered  a  correct  answer  as  to  the  date  of  the  French 
Revolution.  Dates  within  fifty  years,  on  either  side, 
of  the  end  of  the  Roman  republic  and  within  ten 
years  of  the  Missouri  Compromise  were  called  correct 
answers  as  to  those  events.  The  last  question  was 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


i  24 


considered  correctly  answered  as  to  dates  if  the  cen¬ 
tury  given  for  each  man  mentioned  were  within  one 
hundred  years,  on  either  side,  of  the  correct  period, 
except  in  the  case  of  men  who  lived  in  the  eighteenth 
or  nineteenth  century,  where  the  correct  century  was 

required  in  the  answer. 
In  the  very  early  dates, 
still  more  leeway  than 
a  century  was  given. 

Before  giving  the  re¬ 
sults  of  this  test,  one 
very  evident  source  of 
error  must  be  men¬ 
tioned,  which  was  also 
met  with  in  the  ingenu¬ 
ity  tests.  The  same  set 
of  questions  was  used 
for  the  entire  series  of 
subjects,  and  there  was  always  the  possibility  that  later 
subjects  had  been  told  some  of  the  questions  by  previ¬ 
ous  ones.  Each  subject  was  requested  not  to  talk 
about  the  questions  to  other  students,  because  the  same 
set  of  questions  was  to  be  used  for  all.  Each  subject 
was  asked  before  he  was  given  the  questions  whether 
or  not  he.  had  been  told  anything  about  them.  Aside 
from  these  precautions,  there  was  nothing  to  be  done 
except  trust  to  the  honesty  of  the  subject.  Any  accu¬ 
rate  evaluation  of  the  test  would  have  been  impossible 
if  different  sets  of  questions  had  been  used,  because 
no  two  sets  of  questions  of  exactly  equal  difficulty 
could  be  made  out.  Just  how  large  a  part  a  previous 
knowledge  of  the  questions  really  played  in  the  results, 
it  is  of  course  impossible  to  say.  The  impression  of 


Fig.  72. 

General  information.  Entire  series  of 
questions.  Highest  possible  grade, 
250. 

Abscissas — grade  of  the  papers. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

- women  ;  - men. 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


125 


the  experimenter  was  that  it  was  very  small.  There 
were  only  one  or  two  cases  where  there  was  even  a 
suspicion  of  such  knowledge. 

The  twenty-five  questions  fall  into  the  following 
classes : 

English  literature  ( five  questions). 

History  (six  questions). 

Physics  (four  questions). 

Mathematics  (three  questions). 

Biology  (three  questions). 

Chemistry  (two  questions). 

Psychology  (one  question). 

General  (one  question). 

The  results  of  the  tests  will  be  given  both  for  the 
entire  series  and  for  the  separate  divisions.  The 
answers  were  graded  on  a  basis  of  10  for  each  ques¬ 
tion.  The  highest  possible  grade  for  the  entire  series 
is  therefore  250;  that  for 
each  division  is  given  be¬ 
low  the  appropriate  dia¬ 
gram  of  results. 

The  two  curves  for  the 
total  examination  (Fig. 

72),  although  different,  do 
not  differ  in  such  a  way 
that  we  may  call  one  bet¬ 
ter  than  the  other.  Both 
the  extreme  records,  100 
and  220,  are  those  of 
women ;  but  on  the  other 
hand  the  men  are  more 
numerous  than  the  women  at  both  extremes.  There 
are  six  men  and  only  two  women  under  120,  and  also 


General  information.  Questions 
on  English  literature.  High¬ 
est  possible  grade,  50. 
Abscissas  —  grade  of  the  papers. 
Ordinates — number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women  ;  - men. 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


1 26 


10  20  30  fo 

Fig.  74. 

General  information.  Questions  on  his¬ 
tory.  Highest  possible  grade,  60. 
Abscissas — grade  of  the  papers. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women  ;  - men. 


six  men  and  two  women  over  180.  The  curves,  on  the 
whole,  coincide  remarkably.  Both  center  around  160, 

where  each  stands  at 
three.  Each  one  has 
twelve  below  and  ten 
above  160. 

The  curves  repre¬ 
senting  the  grades  in 
English  literature  (Fig. 
73)  show  a  decided  ad¬ 
vantage  on  the  side  of 
the  women.  From 
thirty- five  down  the 
curve  for  the  men  is 
above,  while  from 
thirty-five  up,  that  of  the  women  is  above. 

The  results  of  the  examination  on  history  appear 
in  Fig.  74.  What  differ¬ 
ence  there  is  between 
the  two  curves  is  in  favor 
of  the  men,  although  it 
is  not  very  great. 

In  physics  (Fig.  75) 
the  men  have  a  decided 
advantage.  The  ex¬ 
tremes  of  the  two  curves 
are  the  same,  and  the 
women  are  slightly  more 
numerous  in  the  region 
of  the  best  records ;  but 
the  general  course  of  the  men’s  curve  is  better  than 
that  of  the  women’s.  The  majority  of  the  women  fall 
below  fifteen,  the  majority  of  the  men  above. 


20  30 

Fig.  75. 

General  information.  Questions  on 
physics.  Highest  possible 
grade,  40. 

Abscissas  —  grade  of  the  papers. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

- - women  ;  - men. 


40 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


127 


The  two  curves  for  the  examination  on  mathe¬ 
matics  (Fig.  76)  correspond  closely.  What  differ¬ 
ence  there  is,  is  in  favor  of  the 
women.  There  are  more  men 
than  women  in  the  lower 
ranges,  and  more  women  than 
men  in  the  upper. 

In  biology  ( Fig.  77)  we  find 
the  men  in  excess  at  both  the 
good  and  bad  extremes.  The 
general  course  of  the  curves, 
however,  shows  a  somewhat 
higher  average  in  the  women’s 
record. 

The  questions  in  chemistry 
were  both  so  simple  that  the 
answers  were  almost  all  correct.  Eighteen  women  and 
seventeen  men  were  graded 
at  ten  on  both  questions. 

In  the  question  on  hyp¬ 
notism  the  men  have  a  better 
record  than  the  women.  The 
men  all  answered  correctly. 

Four  women  failed  on  the 
question. 

The  results  of  the  exami¬ 
nation  on  question  25  appear 
in  Fig.  78.  Here  again  the 
men  are  in  excess  at  both 
extremes.  It  is  impossible 
to  call  either  curve  better,  on 
the  whole. 

To  assist  further  in  the  analysis  of  the  results  of 


General  information.  Ques¬ 
tions  on  biology.  High¬ 
est  possible  grade,  30. 

Abscissas  —  grade  of  papers. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  sub¬ 
jects. 

-  -  -  -  women  ;  - men. 


General  information.  Ques¬ 
tions  on  mathematics. 
Highest  possible  grade, 
30. 

Abscissas  —  grade  of  the 
papers. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  sub¬ 
jects. 

-  -  -  -  women ;  - men. 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


128 


General  information.  Question  25. 

Highest  possible  grade,  10. 
Abscissas  —  grade  of  papers. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

- - women  : - men. 


the  general-information  tests,  the  grades  in  English 
literature  and  history,  as  the  literary  subjects,  and 
those  in  physics,  mathematics,  biology,  and  chemistry, 

as  the  scientific  subjects, 
were  summed.  The  two 
summations  are  shown 
in  Figs.  79  and  80.  In 
the  diagram  for  the  lit¬ 
erary  subjects  the  men 
are  more  numerous  in 
the  middle  ranges  and 
the  women  in  the  higher, 
while  in  the  diagram  for 
the  scientific  subjects 
the  reverse  is  the  case. 

The  results  of  the  series  of  tests  on  general  infor¬ 
mation  may  be  summed  ^ 
up  as  follows  :  In  aver¬ 
age  grade  on  the  entire 
series  of  questions  there 
is  no  difference  between 
the  men  and  the  women. 

There  is,  however,  a  dif¬ 
ference  in  grouping.  The 
men  are  more  numerous 
at  both  good  and  bad  ex¬ 
tremes  than  the  women, 
and  the  women  more  nu¬ 
merous  than  the  men  in 
the  middle  ranges.  The 
women  stand  better  than 
the  men  in  the  literary  subjects,  and  not  so  well  in 
the  scientific.  This  does  not  mean  that  the  women 


SO  70  10 

Fig.  79. 

General  information.  Summation 
of  grades  in  the  literary  subjects. 
Highest  possible  grade,  no. 
Abscissas  — grade  of  papers. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 
....  women  :  - men. 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


129 

were  superior  in  both  the  literary  subjects  nor  that 
the  men  were  superior  in  all  the  scientific.  The 
relation  of  the  sexes  in  the  separate  subjects  was  as 
follows: 

English  literature  :  women  much  superior. 

History  :  men  a  little  superior. 

Physics  :  men  much  superior. 

Mathematics  :  women  very  slightly  superior. 

Biology  :  women  a  little  superior. 

Chemistry  :  both  sexes  equal. 


In  the  results  of  the  tests  on  general  information, 
as  in  those  on  ingenuity,  special  training  is  unquestion¬ 
ably  a  factor.  As  appears  from  Table  XXVII,  far  more 
women  than  men  were  in-  t 
terested  in  English  litera-  s 
ture.  Although  the  women 
were  as  interested  in  sci¬ 
ence  as  the  men,  probably 
the  stress  of  their  work 
had  fallen  more  on  literary 
than  on  scientific  studies. 

Many  of  the  women  were 
preparing  to  be  teachers, 
and  had,  therefore,  from 
practical  considerations 
devoted  themselves  pri¬ 
marily  to  those  subjects  in  which  the  openings  for 
women  are  most  numerous,  viz.,  literary  subjects. 
Many  of  the  men,  on  the  other  hand,  intended  to  be 
physicians,  and  hence  were  laying  the  stress  of  their 
work  on  scientific  studies.  The  slight  superiority  of 
the  men  in  history  is  probably  due  to  the  presence  of 
several  students  who  were  preparing  for  a  law  course. 


General  information.  Summation  of 
grades  in  the  scientific  subjects. 
Highest  possible  grade,  120. 
Abscissas  —  grade  of  papers. 
Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 

-  -  -  -  women;  -  men. 


13° 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


SUMMARY  OF  OTHER  EXPERIMENTAL  WORK  ON  INTEL¬ 
LECTUAL  PROCESSES. 

There  have  been  a  number  of  researches  on  the 
comparative  memory  of  the  sexes,  although  none  of 
the  others  have  required  memorizing  or  measured 
retentiveness.  The  other  tests  have  all  followed  the 
method  of  making  a  single  presentation  of  some 
series  of  stimuli  and  requiring  the  subject  to  reproduce 
it.  The  power  of  memory  was  then  measured  by  the 
accuracy  of  the  reproduction.  Tests  on  university 
students  have  been  made  at  Columbia  University  (82) 
and  at  the  University  of  Wisconsin,  the  latter  by  Jas- 
trow  (35).  At  Columbia  University  visual,  auditory, 
and  logical  memory  were  tested  ;  the  first  two  by  pre¬ 
senting  series  of  numerals  through  the  eye  and  the 
ear,  and  the  last  by  reading  aloud  a  passage  to  be  re¬ 
produced.  The  result  was  to  show  that  women  had  a 
decided  advantage  in  visual  memory,  men  a  doubtful 
advantage  in  auditory  memory,  while  there  was  no 
difference  in  logical  memory.  Jastrow’s  method  was 
to  display  a  series  of  words  one  by  one,  requiring  the 
subject  to  write  the  first  association  which  occurred  to 
him.  Two  days  later  the  subject  was  asked  to  write 
the  original  list  again  from  memory.  In  this  test 
women  made  a  better  record  than  men.  It  was  after¬ 
ward  performed  on  high-school  students  with  the 
same  result.  Stern  (76a)  has  made  a  few  tests  tend¬ 
ing  to  show  that  the  memory  of  women  for  the 
details  of  pictures  is  completer  than  that  of  men,  but 
that  they  add  in  recollection  more  of  imaginary 
material  than  do  men.  Bolton  (9)  tested  auditory 
memory  in  school  children,  both  in  the  high  school 
and  in  the  grade  schools,  by  the  method  of  reading 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


I3I 


aloud  a  series  of  numerals,  which  were  then  repro¬ 
duced.  He  finds  the  girls  decidedly  better  than  the 
boys.  Shaw  (75)  employed  the  method  of  requiring 
school  children  to  reproduce  a  story  which  had  been 
read  to  them,  and  again  the  girls  made  the  better 
record.  Netschajeff  (60)  experimented  on  school 
children  of  St.  Petersburg,  varying  from  nine  to 
eighteen  years  in  age.  He  tested  memory  for  objects, 
sounds,  numbers,  and  various  kinds  of  words.  His 
general  result  is  that,  with  slight  exceptions,  girls 
excel  boys  in  power  to  recall.  Very  much  the 
same  series  of  tests  was  performed  by  Lobsien 
(48)  on  school  children  of  Kiel  between  the  ages 
of  nine  and  fourteen  and  a  half.  His  results 
are  formulated  with  reference  both  to  the  number  of 
impressions  reproduced  and  to  the  correctness  of  the 
order  in  which  they  were  reproduced.  He  finds  that 
the  girls  excel  the  boys  in  both  respects.  Ebbing- 
haus  (22)  used  memory  as  one  of  his  methods  of 
testing  mental  ability.  He  stands  alone  in  finding 
girls  inferior  to  boys  up  to  the  age  of  eleven  or  twelve 
years.  The  fact  that  the  boys  and  girls  he  tested 
were  being  educated  in  different  kinds  of  schools 
(' Gymnasium  and  Madchenschule )  may  account  for  this 
discrepancy.  The  results  of  former  experiments  thus 
agree  almost  unanimously  with  the  present  series  in 
showing  better  memory  in  females  than  in  males. 

Two  investigations  other  than  the  present  are  on 
record  in  which  the  attempt  has  been  made  to  obtain 
a  statement  of  the  comparative  rapidity  of  the  asso¬ 
ciation  process  in  men  and  women.  Jastrow  (34) 
took  the  time  required  to  write  one  hundred  words  as 
rapidly  as  possible.  He  found  no  difference  in  the 


1  32 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


time  required  by  men  and  women  ;  but  as  he  himself 
says,  his  method  of  measurement  was  rough.  The 
second  association  test  referred  to  was  made  at  Co¬ 
lumbia  University  (82).  It  consisted  in  requiring  the 
subject  to  write  the  first  association  to  each  of  nine 
words.  The  words  were  given  the  subject  printed  on 
a  card.  The  entire  time  of  the  process  was  taken. 
The  men  proved  to  be  more  rapid  than  the  women. 
Neither  of  these  results  accords  with  those  of  the  pres¬ 
ent  test,  which  show  the  women  to  be  somewhat  more 
rapid.  If  what  is  sought  is  a  measurement  of  the 
normal  rapidity  in  passing  from  one  idea  to  the  next 
when  the  process  is  made  as  natural  as  possible,  the 
form  of  test  employed  in  this  series  seems  better  fit¬ 
ted  to  give  the  required  value  than  the  two  just  de¬ 
scribed.  The  process  of  merely  observing  and  noting 
down  the  thought  sequence  as  it  occurs  from  a  given 
starting-point  seems  less  artificial  than  that  of  writing 
down  one  hundred  different  words,  or  of  writing  the 
first  association  to  a  given  word.  The  writer  is  there¬ 
fore  inclined  to  put  more  faith  in  the  results  of  this 
test  than  in  those  of  the  others. 

Qualitative,  as  distinguished  from  quantitative, 
comparisons  of  the  association  faculty  in  men  and 
women  have  been  made  experimentally  by  Jastrow 
(34>  35>  36.  37)  and  by  Miss  Calkins  (13)  and  her 
students  (61).  Two  methods  were  employed  by 
each.  The  first  was  to  require  the  subject  to  write 
one  hundred  different  words  as  rapidly  as  possible^ 
Jastrow  finds  that  men  furnish  a  greater  variety  of 
words  and  a  greater  number  of  unique  ones  than 
women.  Miss  Calkins,  on  the  contrary,  finds  the  va¬ 
riety  of  words  furnished  by  women  about  equal  to 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


1 33 


that  of  men,  and  their  number  of  unique  words  greater 
than  that  of  men.  The  second  method  consisted  in 
requiring  the  first  association  to  each  of  a  list  of  given 
words.  Neither  investigator  discovered  any  differ¬ 
ence  by  this  method.  They  agree  in  finding  some 
classes  of  words  mentioned  more  frequently  by  one  sex 
than  by  the  other,  such  as  food-stuffs  by  women. 
But  as  both  Miss  Calkins  (13)  and  Miss  Tanner  (79) 
have  pointed  out,  this  fact  points  not  to  original  sex¬ 
ual  difference  in  type  of  mental  activity,  but  to  dif¬ 
ference  of  training  and  surroundings  from  childhood 
on. 

There  are  no  previous  tests  on  ingenuity  and  gen¬ 
eral  information  with  which  those  above  recorded  may 
be  compared.  It  is  well  known  that  in  school  work 
girls  have  better  records  on  the  whole  than  boys 
(55,  p.  1045).  But  the  general  average  of  school 
work  is  not  comparable  to  the  results  of  our  test  on 
general  information.  The  former  takes  account  of 
the  way  in  which  the  lessons  assigned  are  learned,  the 
latter  of  the  amount  of  definite  information  which  the 
individual  has  at  hand  when  it  is  suddenly  called  for. 

There  are  a  few  other  investigations  which  have  a 
more  or  less  remote  bearing  on  the  intellectual  tests. 
Lindley  (47),  investigating  puzzle  interests,  says 
that  he  discovered  no  difference  in  the  age  at  which 
the  various  puzzle  interests  develop  in  the  two  sexes. 
He  attributes  this  failure  to  the  small  number  of  indi¬ 
viduals  investigated.  Dearborn  (19),  studying  the 
imagination  by  means  of  ink  blots,  found  no  difference 
between  the  sexes.  Minot  (58),  found  greater  uni¬ 
formity  in  women’s  diagrams  than  in  men’s.  Miss  Cal¬ 
kins  (12),  investigating  the  mathematical  consciousness, 


1 34 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


found  from  answers  to  a  questionnaire  that  men  are 
more  likely  to  reason  out  a  mathematical  demonstra¬ 
tion,  and  less  likely  to  memorize  it,  than  are  women. 
This  is  not  in  agreement  with  the  present  tests,  which 
show  that  the  women  as  a  whole  have  an  equal  capacity 
with  the  men  for  furnishing  an  original  solution  of  a 
mathematical  problem  when  it  is  called  for  unexpect¬ 
edly.  Ebbinghaus  (22),  and  Bellei  (8),  both  made 
tests  on  school  children  which  were  intended  to 
measure  intellectual  ability.  The  former  used  the 
methods  of  mental  arithmetic,  memory,  and  what  he 
calls  a  combination  method,  which  consisted  in  requir¬ 
ing  the  child  to  fill  in  the  omissions  in  a  text  which 
had  been  prepared  with  some  syllables  or  letters 
omitted.  The  rapidity  and  accuracy  with  which  this 
could  be  done  was  regarded  as  a  measure  of  mental 
ability.  The  latter  used  the  first  and  third  of  the 
methods  just  described.  Ebbinghaus  found  the  boys 
superior  to  the  girls  up  to  the  age  of  fifteen,  when  the 
girls  were  somewhat  superior.  Bellei’s  results  do  not 
agree  with  Ebbinghaus’s.  His  experiments  were  con¬ 
fined  to  children  of  a  single  class  in  school  having  an 
average  age  of  eleven  years.  He  finds  the  girls  supe¬ 
rior  to  the  boys. 

GENERAL  SUMMARY  OF  EXPERIMENTS  ON  INTELLECTUAL 
FACULTIES. 

It  is  well  established  that  women  have  better 
memories  than  men;  they  memorize  more  quickly  and 
retain  as  well.  The  results  of  the  various  experiments 
on  association  do  not  agree  as  to  either  quantitative  or 
qualitative  differences  of  sex.  The  most  trustworthy 
evidence  goes  to  show  that  the  process  of  association 


INTELLECTUAL  FACULTIES 


*35 


is  somewhat  more  rapid  in  women  than  in  men.  As 
to  qualitative  differences,  none  of  the  methods 
employed  seems  to  have  thrown,  or  to  be  capable  of 
throwing,  any  real  light  on  this  question.  The  experi¬ 
ments  which  have  been  performed  to  determine  com¬ 
parative  ingenuity  show  the  men  superior  to  the 
women.  There  are  indications,  however,  that  mechani¬ 
cal  training,  which  boys  unquestionably  receive  to  a 
greater  extent  than  do  girls,  is  an  important  factor  in 
this  result.  The  question  whether  the  more  extensive 
mechanical  education  of  boys  is  not  to  be  accounted 
for  by  their  greater  natural  ingenuity  will  be  discussed 
later.  In  total  amount  of  general  information  there 
is  no  difference  between  men  and  women  who  have 
taken  the  same  course  of  education.  The  women  are 
somewhat  the  better  informed  in  literary  and  the  men 
in  scientific  subjects,  but  this  is  probably  due  to  selec¬ 
tion  of  studies  and  not  to  sex. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 


AFFECTIVE  PROCESSES. 

The  affective  processes  were  investigated  from 
two  points  of  view  : 

A.  The  physiological  expression  of  affective  processes  as  re¬ 
vealed  in  circulation  and  respiration. 

B.  The  introspective  account  of  affective  processes  given  in  re¬ 
sponse  to  questions  on  personality  of  the  following  classes : 

1.  Questions  on  age,  health,  and  nationality. 

2.  Questions  on  sensory  experiences. 

3.  Questions  on  methods  of  rest  and  recreation. 

4.  Questions  on  the  individual  aspects  of  personality. 

5.  Questions  on  the  social  aspects  of  personality. 

6.  Questions  on  intellectual  interests,  methods  of  work, 
and  beliefs. 

A.  THE  PHYSIOLOGICAL  EXPRESSION  OF  AFFECTIVE 
PROCESSES  AS  REVEALED  IN  CIRCULATION  AND 
RESPIRATION. 

For  investigating  the  changes  in  circulation  and 
breathing  in  response  to  the  affective  processes 
Hallion  and  Comte’s  air  plethysmograph  (32)  and 
Bert’s  rubber-capped  metal  respirator  were  used  re¬ 
spectively.  These  instruments  were  used  simulta¬ 
neously,  writing  side  by  side  on  a  smoked  drum. 

The  object  of  the  experiment  was  not  explained 
to  the  subject.  He  was  directed  to  sit  still  and  keep 
his  eyes  shut.  A  normal  curve  was  first  taken  to 
show  the  characteristic  reaction  of  the  individual  in  a 
state  of  repose.  When  this  had  been  obtained  vari- 

136 


AFFECTIVE  PROCESSES 


137 


ous  stimuli  were  applied.  Agreeable  and  disagree¬ 
able  odors  were  given  him  to  smell ;  he  was  touched 
on  the  face  with  a  piece  of  cold  metal  ;  a  loud  sound 
was  produced  by  dropping  a  heavy  object  on  the 
floor;  his  hand  was  pricked  with  a  pin;  and  to  show 
the  effect  of  mental  application  he  was  given  problems 
in  addition  and  multiplication  to  solve.  The  curve 
was  watched  constantly,  and  if  any  marked  changes 
occured  in  it  during  the  interval  between  stimula¬ 
tions,  the  subject  was  told  to  remember  what  he  was 
thinking  about  at  that  time  and  report  later. 

In  the  belief  that  the  significant  features  of  the 
changes  in  pulse  and  breathing  were  to  be  sought 
rather  in  the  amount  of  the  change  than  in  its  form  or 
direction  (2)  the  results  were  formulated  on  the  basis 
of  the  violence  of  the  changes  in  the  plethys- 
mograph  and  the  respirator  curves,  due  either  to 
spontaneous  emotion,  or  to  the  stimuli  applied. 
Table  XIV  gives  the  results  : 

table  xiv. 


Degree  of  change  in  respiration  and  circulation  in  response  to  affec¬ 
tive  changes. 


Changes. 

Slight. 

Medium. 

Violent. 

Women . 

1 1 

8 

6 

7 

6 

10 

The  table  shows  a  greater  proportion  of  men  than 
women  with  violent  physiological  changes,  and  a 
greater  proportion  of  women  than  men  with  slight 

'But  twenty-three  men  appear  in  this  table  because  two  records 
were  accidentally  destroyed. 


138  THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 

changes.  If,  as  is  supposed,  the  amount  of  change 
in  the  curve  runs  parallel  with  the  degree  of  emotion¬ 
al  disturbance,  the  result  means  that  the  men  had 
slightly  more  intense  affective  experiences  than  the 
women — a  conclusion  decidedly  opposed  to  the 
popular  opinion  on  this  subject. 

B.  THE  INTROSPECTIVE  ACCOUNT  OF  AFFECTIVE  PRO¬ 
CESSES  GIVEN  IN  RESPONSE  TO  QUESTIONS  ON 
PERSONALITY. 

The  series  of  questions  on  personality  was  designed 
to  cover  all  questions  of  interest  with  regard  to  an 
individual  which  do  not  lend  themselves  to  experi¬ 
mental  treatment,  or  at  least  which  could  not  be  treated 
experimentally  in  the  present  series  of  tests.  The 
questions  centered  chiefly  upon  the  affective  con¬ 
sciousness —  upon  temperament  and  disposition,  likes 
and  dislikes,  and  interest.  They  included  also  what¬ 
ever  questions  of  fact  with  regard  to  the  individual’s 
history  seemed  important. 

The  evaluation  of  the  answers  to  the  questions 
which  dealt  merely  with  facts  of  individual  history 
presents  no  serious  difficulty.  The  answers  to  ques¬ 
tions  on  the  nature  of  the  individual’s  affective  con¬ 
sciousness,  on  the  other  hand,  are  extremely  difficult 
to  evaluate.  The  difficulty  is  the  one  involved  in  all 
questionnaires.  There  are  at  least  two  important  sources 
of  error  which  the  experimenter  has  no  means  of  con¬ 
trolling  or  measuring.  The  first  is  the  fact  that  many 
individuals  have  not  the  skill  to  interpret  carefully  and 
accurately  if  they  will ;  the  second  is  the  fact  that 
many  individuals  will  not  be,  or  cannot  be,  perfectly 
honest  in  answering  questions  on  personality.  What 
we  are  sure  of  getting  in  answer  to  such  questions,  is 


AFFECTIVE  PROCESSES 


*39 


not  so  much  true  statements  with  regard  to  the  per¬ 
sonality  of  the  individual,  as  the  individual’s  reaction 
toward  the  question  asked.  The  answer  will  approach 
the  truth  in  proportion  as  the  individual  is  skilled  in 
introspection  and  honestly  endeavors  to  tell  the  truth. 
How  far  these  conditions  were  fulfilled  in  the  present 
case  it  is  impossible  to  say;  but  it  may  be  said  that 
the  conditions  of  the  present  questionnaire  were  as 
favorable  as  possible  for  their  fulfilment.  The  indi¬ 
viduals  questioned  had  all  had  some  training  in  psy¬ 
chology  and  were  therefore  more  skilled  than  average 
persons  in  introspection.  They  had  all  voluntarily 
lent  themselves  to  the  test  out  of  interest  in  it,  and 
would  for  that  reason  be  likely  to  endeavor  to  be 
honest.  Their  judgment  was  entirely  unbiased  by 
any  knowledge  of  the  ultimate  purpose  of  the  test. 
The  questions  were  asked  one  by  one  by  the  experi¬ 
menter  and  answered  orally  by  the  subject.  Each 
question  could  thus  be  explained  whenever  necessary, 
and  the  answer  discussed.  The  general  impression  of 
the  experimenter  was  that  the  subjects  were  really 
interested  in  the  questions  and  tried  to  give  honest 
answers. 

The  questions  asked  dealt  with  the  following  sub¬ 
jects  :  (i)  age,  health,  and  nationality;  (2)  sensory 
experiences;  (3)  methods  of  rest  and  recreation ;  (4) 
individual  aspects  of  personality;  (5)  social  aspects  of 
personality;  and  (6)  intellectual  interests,  methods  of 
work,  and  beliefs. 

x.  Questio?is  on  age ,  health ,  aiid  natio?iality . — The  first 
set  of  questions  on  personality  was  designed  to  bring 
out  the  degree  of  homogeneity  of  the  material  for  this 
investigation.  The  questions  were  as  follows: 


140 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


1.  What  is  your  age  ? 

2.  What  is  the  state  of  your  health,  poor,  medium,  good,  or 
excellent  ? 

3.  Are  there  any  physical  abnormalities  of  your  sense  organs 
of  which  you  are  aware  ? 

4.  Do  you  consider  yourself  of  a  nervous  temperament  ? 

5.  What  is  your  own  nationality  and  that  of  your  parents  ? 
Of  what  nationality  were  your  ancestors  ? 


ages  of  the  subjects  are  represented  in  the 
of  Fig,  81.  The  age  curves  for  men  and 
women  coincide  very 
closely,  twenty-two  of 
each  falling  between  the 
limits  of  nineteen  and 
twenty-three  years. 
Three  of  each  sex  were 
twenty-five  years  old  or 
more.  Both  curves  cul¬ 
minate  at  twenty-one 
years. 

The  answers  to  the 
question  on  health  are 
represented  in  Table 
XV,  which  shows  four  more  women  than  men  in  the 
poor  and  medium  sections,  and  four  more  men  than 
women  in  the  good  and  excellent  sections.  There 
were,  however,  more  women  than  men  who  graded 


Fig.  81. 

Age  of  the  subjects. 

Abscissas  — ■  ages. 

Ordinates  —  number  of  subjects. 
- - women  ;  - men. 


TABLE  XV. 
Health  of  the  subjects. 


Poor. 

Medium. 

Good. 

Excellent. 

Women . 

3 

4 

4 

14 

Men . 

3 

12 

10 

AFFECTIVE  PROCESSES 


*4* 

themselves  as  having  exceptionally  good  health.  We 
find  the  women  therefore  more  numerous  at  both  ex¬ 
tremes  of  health  and  the  men  more  numerous  in  the 
middle  range.  The  total  balance  would  incline  toward 
better  health  for  the  men. 

The  number  of  physical  abnormalities  of  the  sense 
organs  reported  is  summed  in  Table  XVI.  The  records 
of  the  two  sexes  coincide  almost  exactly. 


TABLE  XVI. 

Physical  abnormalities  of  the  sense  organs  of  the  subjects. 


Eye. 

Ear. 

Nose. 

None. 

'Women . 

6 

4 

3 

IS 

Men . 

5 

4 

3 

IS 

Table  XVII  shows  the  way  in  which  the  question 
on  nervousness  was  answered.  Here  again  the  records 
of  the  two  sexes  coincide  too  closely  to  indicate  any 
difference  between  them  in  this  respect. 


TABLE  XVII 

Degree  of  nervousness  of  the  subjects. 


No. 

Slightly. 

Yes. 

9 

7 

9 

10 

5 

10 

All  of  the  subjects  were  of  American  birth.  Two 
of  the  men  were  Canadians,  but  all  of  the  other  sub¬ 
jects  were  born  in  the  United  States.  The  men  showed 
a  larger  percentage  of  foreign  parentage  than  the 
women.  Both  parents  were  natives  of  the  United 


142 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


States  in  the  case  of  twenty  of  the  women  and  sixteen 
of  the  men.  The  birthplace  of  the  parents  in  the 
remaining  cases  is  shown  in  Table  XVIII. 


TABLE  XVIII. 

Nativity  of  the  parents  of  the  subjects, 
d 

v 

B 

o 

£ 

20 

I 
I 

I 

I 

I 


Nativity  of  Parents. 


Both  parents  born  in  United  States. 

One  parent  born  in  United  States,  the  other  in  England. 

One  parent  born  in  United  States,  the  other  in  Ireland. 

One  parent  born  in  United  States,  the  other  in  the  West  Indies. 
Both  parents  born  in  Canada. 

One  parent  born  in  England,  the  other  in  Canada. 

One  parent  born  in  England,  the  other  in  Wales. 

Both  parents  born  in  Germany. 

Both  parents  born  in  German  Poland. 

One  parent  born  in  Germany,  the  other  in  Switzerland. 

Both  parents  born  in  Austria. 

Both  parents  born  in  Russia. 


The  nationality  of  the  subjects’  ancestors  appears  in 
Table  XIX.  One  man  and  one  woman  did  not  know 
anything  about  their  ancestors  previous  to  their  settle¬ 
ment  in  America,  and  hence  could  not  answer  the 
question  as  to  their  nationality.  Many  of  the  other 
subjects  seemed  doubtful  on  this  question.  The  report 
is  therefore  incomplete  and  probably  incorrect  in  some 
respects.  Still,  it  serves  as  some  indication  of  the 
races  most  largely  represented. 

It  appears  from  the  table  that  the  ancestry  of  the 
great  majority  of  the  subjects,  both  men  and  women, 
was  English,  Welsh,  Scotch,  or  Irish.  After  the  Brit¬ 
ish  nationalities,  in  order  of  representation  in  the  table, 


AFFECTIVE  PROCESSES 


H3 


TABLE  XIX. 

Ancestry  of  the  subjects. 


comes  the  German,  and  after  that  the  French.  Other 
nationalities  are  represented  only  in  scattered  instances. 

The  general  result  of  the  questions  on  age,  health, 
and  nationality  was  to  show  a  high  degree  of  uniform¬ 
ity  in  these  respects  among  all  the  subjects.  Since 
these  are  all  factors  which  might,  if  they  differed 
widely,  be  held  accountable  for  differences  discovered 
between  the  sexes,  the  fact  that  in  respect  to  them  the 
records  of  the  men  and  the  women  examined  coincide 
so  closely  indicates  that  the  material  selected  was  really 
homogeneous  and  a  fair  basis  for  a  comparison  of  the 
sexes. 

2.  Questions  on  sensory  experiences.  —  The  ques¬ 
tions  on  sensory  experiences  were  as  follows  : 

1 .  Is  any  one  of  your  senses  notably  keen  or  notably  dull  ? 

2.  Are  you  particularly  sensitive  to  impressions  derived 
from  any  one  sense  ? 

3.  Do  you  derive  special  pain  or  pleasure  from  the  sense- 
impressions  of  any  one  sense-organ  ? 

4.  Have  any  of  your  sense-organs  had  special  training  ? 

5.  Do  musical  tones  suggest  colors  to  you  ? 

6.  Are  letters,  words,  or  names  colored  to  you  ? 

7.  Have  you  any  color  associations  with  smells  or  tastes  ? 

The  answers  to  the  first  four  questions  are  em¬ 
bodied  in  Table  XX.  The  number  of  subjects  who 
had  received  special  training  of  the  senses  is  so 


1 44 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


TABLE  XX. 

Answers  to  questions  1-4  on  sensory  experiences. 


Temperature. 

Touch. 

V 

H 

Smell. 

Sight. 

Hearing. 

None. 

Senses  notably  keen. 

Women 
Men . . . 

I 

I 

3 

3 

5 

4 

4 

4 

12 

15 

Senses  notably  dull.  • 

Women 
Men . . . 

I 

2 

2 

I 

I 

4 

3 

18 

18 

Senses  particularly 

Women 

I 

4 

6 

3 

12 

prominent  in  con-  ■ 
sciousness. 

Men . .  . 

2 

5 

7 

13 

Senses  a  source  of 

Women 

I 

3 

10 

3 

9 

special  pleasure. 

Men . . . 

I 

I 

2 

6 

8 

10 

Senses  a  source  of 

Women 

I 

3 

4 

5 

14 

special  pain. 

Men  . .  . 

I 

I 

I 

7 

15 

Senses  specially 

Women 

4 

9 

is 

trained. 

Men . . . 

2 

10 

15 

nearly  identical  for  the  two  sexes  that  training  cannot 
be  held  responsible  for  the  sense-differences  shown 
by  this  series  of  experiments.  Fifteen  subjects  of 
each  sex  were  without  any  training,  and  ten  subjects 
of  each  sex  had  been  trained.  Of  the  ten  women, 
three  had  been  trained  in  both  sight  and  hearing, 
one  in  sight  alone,  and  six  in  hearing  alone.  All  of 
the  ten  men  had  been  trained  in  hearing  and  two  of 
them  in  both  sight  and  hearing.  The  table  shows 
that  sensory  experiences  were  on  the  whole  somewhat 
more  prominent  in  the  women  than  in  the  men. 
There  were  more  women  than  men  who  reported 


AFFECTIVE  PROCESSES 


*45 


special  keenness  of  sense,  who  had  some  special 
sense  more  prominent  in  consciousness  than  the 
others,  and  who  derived  special  pain  and  pleasure 
from  simple  sensory  experiences.  The  preponder¬ 
ance  of  women  is  very  small  in  each  case,  but  is 
constant.  The  senses  reported  particularly  keen  or 
dull  are  almost  the  same  for  both  sexes  In  promi¬ 
nence  in  consciousness  and  power  to  give  pleasure 
or  pain  we  find  vision  predominating  in  the  women 
and  hearing  in  the  men — results  which  may  be  cor¬ 
related  with  the  women’s  use  of  visual  imagery  and 
the  men’s  use  of  auditory  imagery,  as  shown  in  the 
memory  test  (see  chap,  vii,  sec.  A). 

Pseudo-chromaesthesias  proved  to  be  much  more 
frequent  among  the  women  than  among  the  men  ; 
there  were  only  twelve  women  who  reported  none, 
while  there  were  twenty  such  men.  Among  the 
thirteen  women  who  reported  pseudo-chromaesthesias 
the  color  association  was  made  in  nine  cases  with 
musical  tones,  in  four  with  letters  or  words,  in  two 
with  tastes,  and  in  four  with  odors.  None  of  the 
color  associations  of  the  men  were  at  all  fully  devel¬ 
oped.  Of  the  five  who  reported  them  one  said  it  was 
a  discarded  habit  of  which  he  had  not  been  conscious 
for  several  years.  Among  the  other  four  there  were 
two  cases  of  color  association  with  tones,  one  with 
letters,  two  with  taste,  and  one  with  smell.  Here 
again  we  find  evidence  that  visual  experience  is  more 
important  in  the  consciousness  of  women  than  in  that 
of  men. 

3.  Questions  on  methods  of  rest  and  recreation.  —  The 
questions  on  methods  of  rest  and  recreation  were  as 
follows  : 


146 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


1.  What  way  of  resting  after  intellectual  work  do  you 
prefer  ? 

2.  Arrange  the  following  employments  in  the  order  in 
which  they  give  you  the  most  pure  pleasure  :  reading,  the 
theater,  the  opera,  concerts,  lectures,  social  gatherings,  outdoor 
sports,  indoor  games. 

The  answers  to  question  1  are  presented  in  Table 
XXI.  In  cases  where  two  or  more  methods  of  rest¬ 
ing  were  equally  enjoyed  by  the  same  subject,  all 
were  counted.  The  difference  between  the  sexes 
is  most  apparent  in  the  relative  numbers  of  men 
and  women  who  preferred  sleep  and  outdoor  exercise. 
The  other  methods  of  rest  named  in  the  table  were 
about  equally  prized  by  men  and  women. 

TABLE  XXI. 

Answers  to  questions  on  preferred  methods  of  resting  after  intellec¬ 
tual  work. 


Modes  of  Resting. 


Sleep. 

Light 

reading. 

Outdoor 

exercise. 

Social 

inter¬ 

course. 

The 

theater. 

Revery. 

Women . 

12 

5 

'  10 

4 

2 

I 

Men . 

8 

5 

14 

s 

I 

The  answers  to  question  2  are  formulated  in 
Table  XXII.  The  number  of  men  or  women  who 
assigned  to  a  given  amusement  a  given  place  in  the 
order  of  their  preference  is  placed  under  the  name  of 
the  amusement  and  opposite  the  number  in  the  col¬ 
umn  headed  “Order”  which  indicates  the  place 
assigned.  Thus,  the  number  of  women  who  assigned 
the  sixth  place  in  the  order  of  their  preference  to  con¬ 
certs  is  found  under  “Concerts,”  and  opposite  the  6  in 


AFFECTIVE  PROCESSES 


H7 


TABLE  XXII. 


Order  of  preference  assigned  by  the  subjects  to  eight  amuse¬ 
ments. 


column  headed  “Order.”  That  number  is  6.  Incase 
a  subject  placed  two  amusements  in  the  same  grade 
of  esteem  they  were  tabulated  accordingly ;  and  the 
amusement  which  the  subject  placed  next  after  these 
two  was  tabulated,  not  as  in  the  next  lowest  grade, 
but  as  in  the  next  lowest  but  one.  If,  e.  g.,  a  subject 
placed  reading  highest,  concerts  and  the  opera  next, 
and  social  gatherings  next,  reading  would  be  tabu¬ 
lated  as  his  first  choice,  concerts  and  the  opera  as  his 
second,  and  social  gatherings  as  his  fourth. 

It  appears  from  Table  XXII  that  the  men’s  tastes 
were  more  evenly  distributed  than  the  women’s.  The 
women’s  columns  show  more  large  groups  and  more 
zeros  than  the  men’s. 

The  order  in  which  the  women  as  a  whole  and  the 
men  as  a  whole  esteemed  the  amusements  in  question 
is  given  in  Table  XXIII.  From  this  table  it  appears 
that  the  amusements  fall  into  two  groups,  each  of 
which  was  held  in  the  same  relative  esteem  by  both 
the  men  and  the  women,  though  the  order  of  the 


148 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


TABLE  XXIII. 


Summation  of  Table  XXII.  Order  in  which  the  eight  amuse¬ 
ments  were  esteemed  by  the  women  as  a  whole  and  the  men  as  a 
whole. 


Order. 

Women. 

Men. 

I 

Opera 

Outdoor  sports 

2 

Reading 

Theater 

3 

Theater 

Reading 

4 

Outdoor  sports 

Opera 

5 

Concerts 

Social  gatherings 

6 

Social  gatherings 

Concerts 

7 

Lectures 

Indoor  games 

8 

Indoor  games 

Lectures 

amusements  within  the  group  differs  for  the  two  sexes. 
The  first  group  consists  of  reading,  the  theater,  the 
opera,  and  outdoor  sports ;  the  second  of  social  gath¬ 
erings,  concerts,  lectures,  and  indoor  games.  The 
only  marked  difference  in  the  order  of  amusements 
in  the  two  columns  of  Table  XXIII  is  in  the  places 
assigned  to  the  opera  and  to  outdoor  sports,  which 
stand  respectively  first  and  fourth  in  the  women’s  list 
and  fourth  and  first  in  the  men’s.  It  is  surprising  that 
social  gatherings  are  placed  so  low  in  both  scales  and 
that  the  men  gave  them  a  higher  preference  than  did 
the  women. 

4.  Questions  on  the  individual  aspects  of  personality . — 
The  questions  on  the  individual  aspects  of  personality 
were  as  follows  : 

1.  Do  you  consider  yourself  very  emotional  ? 

2.  Is  your  instinct  to  express  emotions  or  to  repress  and  hide 
them  ? 

3.  What  sort  of  physical  expression  do  violent  emotions 
have  ? 

4.  Are  you  very  introspective  ? 

5.  Do  you  do  much  day-dreaming  ? 


AFFECTIVE  PROCESSES 


>49 


6.  Do  you  ever  have  illusions,  hallucinations,  or  presenti¬ 
ments  ? 

7.  Are  you  of  the  impulsive  or  of  the  reflective  type  in 
action  ? 

8.  Do  you  always  give  reasons  to  yourself  for  your  judg¬ 
ments  and  decisions  at  the  time  when  you  make  them,  or  are 
they  frequently  intuitive  ? 

9.  Are  you  very  active  physically  ? 

10.  Are  you  mechanical?  i.  e„  do  you  enjoy  working  with 
your  hands  ? 

u.  Have  you  executive  ability?  i.  <?.,  do  you  enjoy  manag¬ 
ing  and  taking  responsibility,  and  do  you  succeed  when  you  do? 

12.  Have  you  a  contented  disposition,  on  the  whole? 

13.  Are  you  inclined  to  brood  and  worry  over  things  which  go 
wrong  ? 

14.  Is  your  impulse  to  blame  yourself  if  possible,  or  others  if 
possible,  or  fate,  when  things  go  wrong? 

15.  Are  you  very  conscientious? 

16.  Do  ethical  or  aesthetic  or  religious  ideas  play  the  largest 
part  in  controlling  your  acts? 

The  answers  to  these  questions,  with  the  excep¬ 
tion  of  question  3,  are  summarized  in  Table  XXIV. 
The  only  difference  in  emotional  nature  indicated  by 
the  answers  to  the  first  two  questions  is  a  somewhat 
greater  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  women  to  repress 
emotions,  while  the  men  reported  themselves  more 
disposed  to  express  their  emotions.  In  answer  to  the 
third  question  both  the  men  and  the  women  reported 
trembling  as  the  commonest  physical  effect  of  emotion 
and  a  tendency  to  weep  as  the  next  commonest.  The 
next  in  order  were  rigidity  of  the  muscles  and  aimless 
movements  in  the  case  of  the  men,  and  faintness  and 
weakening  in  the  case  of  the  women.  The  women 
mentioned  on  an  average  more  physical  effects  of 
emotion  than  the  men.  Whether  this  fact  is  due  to 
greater  accuracy  and  completeness  on  the  part  of  the 


1  5° 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


TABLE  XXIV. 

Answers  to  questions  on  individual  aspects  of  personality. 


Women. 

Men, 

Emotionality  : 

Great . 

10 

10 

Medium . 

5 

C 

10 

10 

Expression  or  repression  of  emotion : 
Expression  predominant . 

6 

10 

Repression  predominant . 

18 

15 

Neither  predominant . 

I 

Introspectiveness  : 

13 

6 

13 

6 

Medium . 

6 

6 

Disposition  to  day-dreaming  : 

Great  at  present . 

10 

8 

Great  formerly . 

5 

5 

Some . 

7 

10 

3 

4 

Illusions,  hallucinations,  and  presentiments  : 

i 

2 

Hallucinations . 

2 

13 

12 

8 

None  of  the  three . 

17 

9 

Impulsiveness  or  reflectiveness  in  action  : 

7 

16 

15 

i 

2 

Character  of  judgments  and  decisions  : 

17 

7 

16 

8 

Neither,  primarily . 

i 

I 

Physical  activity  : 

13 

12 

16 

9 

Taste  for  mechanics : 

10 

6 

2 

3 

16 

13 

13 

4 

Executive  ability  : 

ii 

Slight . 

10 

8 

4 

Habitual  contentment : 

13 

3 

18 

2 

9 

5 

2. 


10. 


II. 


AFFECTIVE  PROCESSES 


IS* 


TABLE  XXIV— Continued. 


Women. 

Men. 

13.  Disposition  to  brood  and  worry  : 

Marked . 

9 

10 

Some . 

4 

6 

Very  little . 

12 

9 

14.  Habit  as  to  placing  blame  for  mishaps  :  1 

Disposed  to  blame  self . 

10 

10 

Disposed  to  blame  others . 

6 

6 

Disposed  to  blame  fate . 

2 

I 

Disposed  to  place  blame  where  it  belongs. . . 

6 

6 

15.  Conscientiousness:3 

14 

14 

6 

7 

5 

3 

16.  Standards  of  conduct : 

Religious . 

3 

3 

12 

1 1 

./Esthetic . 

5 

6 

Religious  and  ethical  equally . 

4 

2 

Ethical  and  aesthetic  equally . 

I 

3 

women,  or  to  a  more  complicated  response  to  emotion 
on  their  part,  it  is  difficult  to  judge.  The  result  of 
the  plethysmographic  test  (see  above,  sec.  A)  which 
showed  the  bodily  response  of  the  men  to  the  stimuli 
used  more  marked  and  immediate  than  that  of  the 
women,  would  point  to  the  former  hypothesis.  In 
the  only  case  in  which  the  subjects  were  questioned 
as  to  the  physical  effects  of  a  particular  emotion 
(viz.,  the  case  of  question  18,  on  embarrassment,  in 
sec.  5)  more  effects  per  individual  were  reported  by 
the  men. 

The  tendency  to  introspection  (questions  4  and  5) 
was  reported  the  same  for  both  sexes,  except  for  a 
slightly  greater  tendency  toward  day-dreaming  in  the 

1  One  man  and  one  woman  were  unable  to  answer  this  question. 
One  man  thought  himself  equally  likely  to  blame  himself  and  others. 

3  In  the  case  of  one  man  this  question  was  omitted. 


I52 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


case  of  the  women.  The  question  on  illusions,  hallu¬ 
cinations,  and  presentiments  elicited  the  fact  that  pre¬ 
sentiments  were  more  frequent  among  the  women,  while 
illusions  and  hallucinations  were  more  frequent  among 
the  men.  It  is  interesting  to  notice  in  this  connec¬ 
tion  that  all  subjects  who  reported  either  illusions  or 
hallucinations  reported  presentiments  also.  The  an¬ 
swers  regarding  impulsiveness  (questions  7  and  8)  are 
grouped  almost  identically  for  the  two  sexes.  What 
little  difference  there  is  shows  less  impulsiveness  and 
more  tendency  to  control  by  reason  on  the  part  of 
the  women — a  result  which  is  in  agreement  with  their 
greater  tendency  to  repress  and  control  emotion. 

The  men  reported  a  more  marked  tendency  to 
physical  activity  (question  9)  than  the  women,  but 
the  women  reported  a  greater  taste  for  working  with 
the  hands  (question  10).  The  former  report  accords 
with  the  popular  opinion,  but  the  latter  is  unexpected. 
In  executive  ability  (question  n)  little,  if  any,  differ¬ 
ence  between  the  sexes  appears.  There  are  more 
women  at  both  extremes  and  more  men  in  the  middle 
range. 

There  were  more  men  than  women  who  were  habitu¬ 
ally  contented  (question  12),  but  the  tendency  to 
worry  (question  13)  was  somewhat  greater  among  the 
men  —  a  result  which  seems  a  little  contradictory. 
The  tendency  to  locate  blame  for  unfortunate  events 
(question  14)  is  distributed  among  the  various  cate¬ 
gories  in  the  same  proportion  for  both  sexes.  The 
answers  to  the  question  on  conscientiousness  (ques¬ 
tion  15)  coincide  almost  exactly  for  the  two  sexes. 

When  the  last  question,  as  to  the  nature  of  the 
standards  of  conduct,  was  asked,  it  was  carefully  ex- 


AFFECTIVE  PROCESSES 


*53 


plained  to  the  subject  that  the  inquiry  was  whether 
his  decisions  about  acts  were  controlled  by  consider¬ 
ing  whether  or  not  the  act  in  question  was  pleasing 
to  God,  or  by  considering  whether  the  act  was  right 
or  wrong,  or  by  considering  whether  it  was  pleasing 
and  proper  and  fit  under  the  circumstances.  Many 
subjects  answered  that  more  than  one  of  these  stand¬ 
ards  governed  their  decisions.  In  such  cases,  if  one  of 
the  standards  was  reported  predominant,  the  subject 
was  classified  under  that  standard  alone  ;  but  if  two 
were  reported  equally  important,  the  subject  was  clas¬ 
sified  as  governed  by  a  combined  standard.  The  men 
and  the  women  are  classified  under  each  standard  in 
about  the  same  proportion,  though  the  aesthetic  factor 
appears  more  frequently  in  the  men’s  standards  and  the 
religious  in  the  women’s.  The  ethical  factor  seems 
equally  important  to  both  sexes.  The  total  number 
of  times  each  of  the  three  standards  was  mentioned, 
as  either  primary  or  secondary,  by  the  men  and  the 
women  appears  in  Table  XXV. 


TABLE  XXV. 

Number  of  times  the  three  standards  of  conduct  were  mentioned  by 
the  subjects. 


Women. 

Men. 

Religious . 

1 1 

8 

Ethical . 

20 

17 

IS 

7 

Here  the  greater  prevalence  of  aesthetic  judgments 
among  the  men  and  of  religious  judgments  among  the 
women  is  more  marked,  while  ethical  judgments  seem 
to  be  slightly  more  prevalent  among  the  women. 


>54 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


5.  Questions  on  social  aspects  of  perso7iality . —  The 
questions  on  the  social  aspects  of  personality  were  as 
follows  : 

1.  Are  your  interests  in  life  centered  more  largely  in  your 
relations  with  people,  or  in  your  intellectual  and  practical  pur¬ 
suits  ? 

2.  Are  you  sensitive  about  other  people’s  opinion  of  you  ? 

3.  Do  you  consider  yourself  independent  in  making  decis¬ 
ions  or  are  you  influenced  by  the  view  of  others  ? 

4.  Do  you  like  to  be  much  alone,  or  do  you  desire  compan¬ 
ionship  most  of  the  time  ? 

5.  Do  you  enjoy  conversation  particularly? 

6.  Do  you  enjoy  the  society  of  men  or  of  women  better  ? 

7.  Have  you  many  friends  ? 

8.  Have  you  many  intimate  friends  ? 

9.  Are  the  majority  of  your  friends  men  or  women  ? 

10.  Are  you  affectionate  ? 

1 1.  Are  you  sympathetic  ? 

12.  Are  you  demonstrative  in  affection  ? 

13.  Do  you  attach  much  importance  to  relationships,  i.  e., 
do  you  feel  under  obligation  to  like  a  person  or  to  do  him  favors 
merely  because  he  is  related  to  you  ? 

14.  Are  you  socially  timid  ? 

15.  Are  you  physically  timid? 

16.  Are  you  frank  ? 

17.  Are  you  easily  embarrassed? 

18.  How  does  embarrassment  show  itself? 

19.  Are  you  curious  about  affairs  that  are  not  of  immediate 
interest  to  you  ? 

The  summary  of  the  answers  to  these  questions 
(e*xcept  the  answer  to  question  18)  is  given  in  Table 
XXVI.  The  general  tenor  of  the  answers  is  to  show 
that  social  relationships  are  more  important  to  the 
men  than  to  the  women.  A  greater  number  of  the 
men  than  of  the  women  reported  that  they  were  more 
keenly  interested  in  their  relations  with  people  than  in 


AFFECTIVE  PROCESSES 


155 


TABLE  XXVI. 


Answers  to  questions  on  social  aspects  of  personality. 


Women. 

Men. 

I. 

Center  of  interest : 

14 

6 

17 

6 

Both  equally . 

c 

2 

2. 

Sensitiveness  to  others*  opinion  : 

Great . 

10 

13 

8 

1 1 

Slight . 

4 

3- 

Independence  in  decision  : 

1 1 

12 

7 

7 

Slight . 

7 

6 

4- 

Taste  for  solitude  : 

Great . 

9 

c 

Some . 

10 

6 

None . 

6 

M 

l6 

5- 

Taste  for  conversation  : 1 

Great . 

18 

7 

8 

6. 

Preference  for  society  of  own  or  other  sex  : 

10 

8 

10 

1 1 

7 

7- 

Number  of  friends  :  2 

IS 

g 

20 

Few . 

5 

10 

8. 

Number  of  intimate  friends  : 

12 

Few . 

13 

18 

is 

13 

9- 

Sex  of  majority  of  friends  : 

2 

5 

l6 

8 

10. 

Affectionateness  : 

18 

4 

c 

c 

2 

I  I. 

Sympathy  : 

18 

2  I 

2 

2 

D 

1  In  the  case  of  one  man  this  question  was  omitted. 

’One  woman  was  unable  to  answer  this  question  and  one  reported 
the  number  of  her  friends  as  medium. 


!56 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


TABLE  XXVI  —  Continutd. 


Answers  to  questions  on  social  aspects  of  personality. 


Women. 

Men. 

12. 

Demonstrativeness  in  affection  : 

Marked . 

6 

Q 

Medium . .  . . 

2 

6 

None  . . 

l6 

10 

13- 

Consideration  for  relatives  as  such  : 

Great . 

9 

1 1 

6 

Small . 

10 

None . 

c 

14. 

Social  timidity: 

Marked . 

None . 

j 

13 

12 

12 

13 

Q 

IS- 

Physical  timidity  : 

Marked . 

Q 

None . 

16 

16 

16. 

Frankness  : 1 

I  I 

l6 

Medium . 

3 

6 

None . . . 

10 

2 

17- 

Liability  to  embarrassment : 

Marked . 

15 

1 

J 

8 

Medium . 

9 

None . 

9 

8 

18. 

Curiosity : 

Great . 

8 

10 

4 

3 

None . 

13 

12 

their  own  pursuits;  that  they  were  extremely  sensi¬ 
tive  about  other  people’s  opinion  of  them  ;  that  they 
desired  companionship  most  of  the  time  ;  and  that 
they  had  a  large  circle  of  friends.  Fewer  of  the  men 
than  of  the  women,  however,  reported  a  great  number 
of  intimate  friends.  More  of  the  men  than  of  the 
women  considered  themselves  affectionate,  sympa¬ 
thetic,  and  demonstrative  in  affection.  Their  curios¬ 
ity  appears  slightly  greater  than  that  of  the  women. 

The  interest  in  the  other  sex  also  appears  greater 

•One  woman  was  unable  to  answer  question  16. 


AFFECTIVE  PROCESSES 


1 57 


among  the  men  than  among  the  women.  A  consider¬ 
ably  greater  number  of  the  men  than  of  the  women  said 
they  enjoyed  the  society  of  the  other  sex  better  than 
that  of  their  own,  and  there  were  more  men  than 
women  with  an  equal  or  greater  number  of  friends  of 
the  opposite  sex.  As  to  independence  in  judgment  and 
action  the  two  records  are  practically  alike.  More 
of  the  women  than  of  the  men  laid  stress  on  relation¬ 
ship,  a  fact  which  is  in  accord  with  the  greater  promi¬ 
nence  of  religious  and  ethical  standards  among  the 
women.  No  difference  in  timidity,  either  social  or 
physical,  was  reported.  The  number  of  men  report¬ 
ing  frankness  considerably  exceeds  the  number  of 
women. 

More  women  than  men  reported  themselves  easily 
embarrassed,  but  the  men  as  a  whole  reported  a 
greater  number  of  physical  effects  of  embarrassment 
than  the  women.  For  both  sexes  the  commonest 
effect  was  blushing  and  the  next  some  departure  from 
the  usual  habit  of  speech.  Of  these  modifications  of 
speech  unusual  reticence  was  most  frequent  in  both 
sexes;  getting  the  tongue  twisted  or  hesitating  came 
next,  and  unusual  talkativeness  next  Forgetting 
words  and  making  aimless  movements  were  reported 
an  equal  number  of  times  by  both  sexes.  Feeling  hot 
and  perspiring  were  reported  frequently  by  men,  but 
not  by  women. 

6.  Questions  on  intellectual  interests ,  methods  of  work, 
a?id  beliefs. —  The  questions  on  intellectual  interests, 
methods  of  work,  and  beliefs  were  as  follows : 

1.  What  lines  of  study  have  interested  you  most? 

2.  What  branches  have  you  found  easiest  ? 

3.  What  branches  have  you  found  hardest  ? 


i58 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


4.  In  what  departments  have  you  done  your  best  work  ? 

5.  Have  you  specialized,  and,  if  so,  in  what  department  ? 

6.  Have  you  a  number-form,  or  diagrams  for  the  days  of  the 
week  or  months  of  the  year  ? 

7.  What  sort  of  imagery  predominates  in  your  thinking  ? 

8.  Do  you  have  a  schedule  for  your  hours  of  study,  or  do  you 
arrange  each  day  as  it  comes  ? 

9.  How  large  a  proportion  of  your  free  time  do  you  spend  in 
study  ? 

10.  Do  you  derive  real  enjoyment  from  the  study  itself,  or  is 
it  only  a  means  to  an  end  —  a  necessary  drudgery  ? 

1 1.  Have  you  decided  on  your  career  in  life  ?  If  so,  is  it  to 
be  practical,  intellectual,  or  artistic  ? 

12.  Have  you  strong  religious  beliefs? 

13.  Do  you  adhere  to  the  doctrines  of  any  one  church  ? 

14.  Have  you  any  belief  at  all  in  (a)  spiritualism,  ( b )  telep¬ 
athy,  or  (c)  Christian  science  ? 

15.  Are  you  at  all  influenced  by  omens  or  presentiments  ? 

16.  Have  you  any  superstitions  ? 

TABLE  XXVII. 

Answers  to  questions  on  intellectual  interests. 

I.  Studies  regarded  with  greatest  interest : 


Women. 


Men. 


II.  Science. 

10.  Philosophy. 

10.  English. 

8.  Modern  languages. 
7.  History. 

6.  Ancient  languages. 

4.  Mathematics. 

4.  Sociology. 

3.  Economics. 


10.  Science. 

10.  Philosophy. 

7.  History. 

6.  Ancient  languages. 

5.  Modern  languages. 

5.  Economics. 

5.  Sociology. 

5.  English. 

4.  Mathematics. 

1.  No  preference. 


2.  Studies  found  easiest : 


Women. 


Men. 


11.  Modern  languages. 
10.  Ancient  languages. 

6.  Science. 


6.  English. 


12.  Modern  languages. 
9.  Ancient  languages. 

5.  Science. 

4.  History. 


AFFECTIVE  PROCESSES 


1 59 


TABLE  XXVII -Continued. 


2.  Studies  found  easiest  — Continued  : 


3- 


4- 


Women. 

5.  Mathematics. 

2.  History. 

2.  Philosophy. 

1.  Economics. 

1.  Sociology. 

3.  All  equally  easy. 

Studies  found  hardest : 

Women. 

6.  Mathematics. 

6.  History. 

5-  English. 

5.  Philosophy. 

4.  Ancient  languages. 

3.  Science. 

2.  Modern  languages. 

1.  Economics. 

3.  All  equally  hard. 

Studies  in  which  best  work  had 
Women. 

11.  Ancient  languages. 

10.  Modern  languages. 

5.  Mathematics. 

5.  Science. 

4.  English. 

3.  History. 

2.  Philosophy. 

1.  Economics. 

2.  Work  equally  good  in  all. 


Men. 

4.  Mathematics. 

2.  Sociology. 

1.  Philosophy. 

3.  All  equally  easy. 

Men. 

12.  Mathematics. 

4.  Science. 

3.  Ancient  languages. 

3.  Modern  languages. 

3.  Philosophy. 

2.  Economics. 

I.  History. 

1.  English. 

2.  All  equally  hard. 

done : 

Men. 

7.  Modern  languages. 

4.  Ancient  languages. 

4.  Philosophy. 

4.  English. 

4.  History. 

3.  Science. 

3.  Sociology. 

2.  Mathematics. 

2.  Economics. 

2.  Work  equally  good  in  all. 


5.  Studies  adopted  as  specialties  : 
Women. 

5.  Modern  languages. 

4.  Ancient  languages. 

4.  Science. 

4.  Philosophy. 

1.  English. 

1.  Economics. 

1.  Sociology. 

10.  None. 


Men. 

5.  Economics. 

3.  Science. 

3.  Philosophy. 

2.  Modern  languages. 
1.  History. 

1.  Sociology. 

11.  None. 


i6o 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


Theanswers  to  the  first  fivequestions  aresummarized 
in  Table  XXVII.  The  number  before  the  name  of  each 
study  indicates  the  number  of  times  the  study  was  men¬ 
tioned  in  the  answers  as  most  interesting,  easiest,  etc. 

The  most  striking  thing  about  this  table  is  the 
general  uniformity  in  theanswers.  Both  the  men  and 
the  women  reported  philosophy  and  science  as  the 
subjects  of  greatest  interest,  languages  as  the  easiest 
and  the  one  in  which  best  work  had  been  done,  and 
mathematics  as  the  hardest.  Science,  philosophy,  and 
languages  occupy  closely  corresponding  positions  in 
the  tables  of  the  men  and  women  throughout.  The 
only  marked  difference  in  the  amount  of  interest  in 
the  various  studies  reported  by  the  two  appears  in 
the  greater  interest  of  the  women  in  English.  Mathe¬ 
matics  was  reported  as  the  hardest  subject  by  twice  as 
many  men  as  women,  while  more  of  the  women  than 
of  the  men  found  it  easy  and  reported  good  work  in 
it.  History,  while  equally  interesting  to  both  sexes, 
appears  easier  for  the  men.  It  is  interesting  to  note 
that  in  both  cases  the  subjects  which  were  easiest  were 
also  those  in  which  best  work  was  being  done.  This 
correspondence  is  somewhat  closer  in  the  case  of  the 
women.  The  studies  found  easiest  by  the  greatest 
number  of  women  were  also  those  in  which  the  great¬ 
est  number  of  them  were  specializing — a  statement 
which  is  not  true  of  the  men.  The  number  who  had 
done  no  specializing  was  about  the  same  in  both  sexes. 

The  outcome  of  these  questions  is  interesting  in  its 
bearing  on  the  test  for  general  information  (chap,  vii, 
sec.  D).  It  goes  to  show  that  the  individuals  used  for 
that  test  were  really  comparable  in  amount  of  training 
and  in  interests. 


AFFECTIVE  PROCESSES 


61 


The  answers  to  the  remaining  questions  under  the 
present  head  are  summarized  in  Table  XXVIII. 

TABLE  XXVIII. 

Answers  to  questions  on  methods  of  work  and  beliefs. 


Women. 

Men. 

6. 

Number-forms  and  diagrams  for  days  and 
months : 

7 

Absent . 

18 

21 

7- 

Character  of  mental  imagery  : 

14 

4 

15 

I 

Motor . 

2 

7 

I 

3 

2 

2 

Visual-motor-auditory . 

7 

8. 

Use  of  a  schedule  of  daily  work : 

Rigid . 

10 

8 

7 

6 

None . 

12 

I  I 

9- 

Proportion  of  time  given  to  study: 

All . 

7 

8 

More  than  half . 

7 

9 

Half . 

6 

2 

Less  than  half . 

5 

13 

4 

6 

10. 

Manner  in  which  study  is  regarded  : 

As  a  pleasure . 

I  I 

As  drudgery . 

I  I 

8 

7 

II. 

Career  selected  : 

I 

D 

2 

M 

4 

8 

13 

2 

None  yet  selected . 

6 

12. 

Religious  beliefs : 

Strong . 

l6 

10 

5 

4 

None . 

4 

1 1 

13- 

Adherence  to  church  creeds  : 

Q 

8 

16 

17 

4 

14a 

Attitude  toward  spiritualism : 

Belief . 

I 

5 

5 

19 

16 

1 62  THE  mental  traits  of  sex 


TABLE  XXVIII— Continued. 

Answers  to  questions  on  methods  of  work  and  beliefs. 


Women. 

Men. 

14 b.  Attitude  toward  telepathy: 

Belief . 

10 

is 

Neutrality . 

10 

Disbelief . 

5 

6 

14c.  Attitude  toward  Christian  science  : 

Belief . 

2 

”1 

Neutrality . 

2 

J 

I 

Disbelief . 

21 

21 

15.  Influence  of  omens  and  presentiments: 

Some . 

Q 

6 

None . 

16 

19 

7 

16.  Superstitions: 

Some . 

Q 

l6 

18 

Number-forms  and  diagrams  for  the  days  of  the 
week  and  the  months  of  the  year  are  shown  by  the 
table  to  be  more  numerous  among  the  women  than 
among  the  men,  although  the  difference  is  much  less 
marked  than  it  was  in  the  case  of  the  pseudo- 
chromsesthesias.  This  again  points  to  the  greater 
prominence  of  visual  experience  in  women.  The 
answers  to  the  question  on  the  general  type  of  mental 
imagery,  however,  do  not  accord  with  the  previous 
evidence  on  the  subject.  There  are  more  men  than 
women  who  report  that  visual  or  visual-motor  imagery 
predominates  in  their  thinking.  The  memory  test 
and  the  questions  on  sensory  experience  would  have 
led  us  to  expect  auditory  imagery  to  be  more  com¬ 
mon  among  the  men  than  among  the  women,  but  the 
answers  to  the  question  on  imagery  do  not  bear  out 
this  expectation.  Since  a  general  question  on  the 
type  of  imagery  is  so  difficult  for  those  comparatively 
unskilled  in  introspection  to  answer  accurately,  per- 


AFFECTIVE  PROCESSES  163 

haps  in  this  case  the  special  pieces  of  evidence  are 
more  to  be  trusted  than  the  general  answer. 

The  only  marked  sex-difference  revealed  by  the 
questions  on  methods  of  study  (8- 10)  is  that  the  women 
on  the  whole  derive  more  pleasure  from  the  study 
itself,  while  to  the  men  it  is  more  likely  to  be  a  means 
to  an  end.  They  seem  about  equally  inclined  to  be 
systematic  in  the  disposition  of  time.  There  is  a 
slight  predominance  of  women  with  rigid  schedules, 
and  of  men  with  flexible  schedules.  The  men  report 
a  somewhat  larger  proportion  of  free  time  spent  in 
study  than  the  women  —  a  result  which  is  contrary  to 
the  popular  opinion  on  the  subject.  The  answers 
regarding  the  selection  of  a  career  indicate  chiefly  the 
fact  that  over  half  of  the  women  were  planning  to  teach 
—  an  occupation  which  they  classed  as  intellectual  — 
while  about  the  same  number  of  men  were  preparing 
for  courses  in  either  law  or  medicine  —  professions 
which  are  classified  as  intellectual  and  practical.  There 
were  none  who  expected  to  devote  themselves  to  art 
in  any  form. 

The  questions  on  beliefs  (12-16)  revealed  a  some¬ 
what  greater  tendency  on  the  part  of  the  women  to 
have  strong  religious  beliefs  and  to  be  affected  by 
omens  and  superstitions  ;  and,  on  the  part  of  the  men, 
a  more  marked  tendency  to  believe  in  spiritualism, 
telepathy,  and  Christian  science. 

SUMMARY  OF  OTHER  EXPERIMENTAL  WORK  ON  AFFECTIVE 
PROCESSES. 

Before  bringing  together  what  little  experimental 
material  there  is  on  the  subject  of  the  affective  aspect 
of  consciousness  as  it  appears  in  men  and  women,  it 


164 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


may  be  well  to  emphasize  still  further  the  extremely 
unsatisfactory  nature  of  both  methods  of  investigating 
affective  processes  employed  in  the  present  work. 
One  of  them — the  questionnaire  —  is  only  semi-scien¬ 
tific,  while  the  other  —  the  method  of  expression  —  has 
as  yet  developed  no  standard  for  evaluating  the 
results.  The  mere  personal  answer  to  a  question  about 
matters  of  temperament  and  disposition,  or  even  about 
intellectual  characteristics,  is  far  from  approaching  the 
value  of  a  scientific  fact.  In  fact,  such  personal  esti¬ 
mates  are  peculiarly  liable  to  perversion  for  obvious 
reasons.  The  method  of  expression,  while  it  holds 
forth  some  hope  that  it  may  some  day  lead  to  the  dis¬ 
covery  of  a  constant  correlation  between  affective 
states  and  certain  involuntary  movements — particu¬ 
larly  those  of  circulation — has  not  as  yet  given  us 
any  trustworthy  criterion  for  interpreting  results. 
Recognizing  fully  the  serious  criticisms  to  be  passed 
on  the  methods  employed,  the  results  are  given  not  as 
scientifically  determined  facts,  but  as  constituting  the 
only  indication  of  probabilities  which  we  have  at  present. 

The  few  previous  experiments  on  record  regarding 
the  affective  processes  which  have  any  bearing  on  the 
present  series  relate,  first,  to  synaesthesia ;  second,  to 
one  of  the  individual  aspects  of  personality  ;  third,  to 
the  relative  use  of  visual  imagery  by  men  and  women ; 
and,  fourth,  to  beliefs. 

1.  Several  experiments  on  synaesthesia  of  various 
forms  agree  in  showing  this  experience  to  be  more  fre¬ 
quent  among  women  than  among  men.  Galton  (26) 
found  that  number-forms  were  twice  as  numerous 
among  women  as  among  men.  Chalmers  (17)  finds 
number-forms  more  frequent  among  female  students 


AFFECTIVE  PROCESSES 


165 


than  among  male.  Krohn  (44)  says  that  the  greater 
number  of  his  cases  of  pseudo-chromaesthesia  were 
among  women.  Miss  Calkins  (14,  15)  found  that  a 
very  high  percentage  (50)  of  the  women  she  examined 
had  synaesthesias,  but  she  furnishes  no  data  for  a  com¬ 
parison  with  men. 

2.  In  the  data  collected  at  Wellesley  College  from 
Wellesley  and  Harvard  students  (45)  it  appeared  that 
a  larger  proportion  of  the  women  examined  were 
inclined  to  day-dreaming  than  of  the  men.  This  fact 
accords  with  the  results  of  question  5  of  sec.  4,  above. 

3.  The  Columbia  University  tests  (82)  included  a 
question  as  to  the  kind  of  mental  imagery  chiefly 
employed  by  each  subject.  This  question,  like  the 
same  one  in  the  present  series  (question  7  of  sec.  6), 
revealed  no  greater  use  of  visual  imagery  by  the  women 
as  against  the  men.  Likewise  Miss  Calkins  (12)  found 
practically  no  difference  between  men  and  women  in 
the  tendency  to  visualize  numerals.  On  the  other 
hand  Galton  (26)  came  to  the  conclusion  that  women 
have  more  vivid  visual  imagery  than  men.  Since  his 
subjects  were  gathered  miscellaneously,  they  were  not 
as  comparable  in  this  respect  as  university  students. 

4.  Sumner  (77)  using  a  questionnaire  on  belief, 
found  belief  in  presentiments,  omens,  and  supersti¬ 
tions  more  prominent  among  women  than  among  men 
—  a  result  in  agreement  with  that  of  questions  15  and 
16  of  sec.  6,  above. 

GENERAL  SUMMARY  OF  EXPERIMENTS  ON  AFFECTIVE 
PROCESSES. 

The  physiological  expression  of  affective  processes, 
as  shown  in  the  experiments  on  circulation  and  respi¬ 
ration,  is  more  intense  in  men  than  in  women.  As  to 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


166 

the  character  of  the  affective  processes  themselves, 
the  most  striking  thing  revealed  by  the  above  ques¬ 
tions  on  personality  is  their  close  coincidence  in  both 
sexes.  The  realm  of  feeling  is  one  of  those  upon 
which  chief  stress  is  laid  by  those  who  believe  that 
there  are  important  psychological  differences  of  sex, 
and  yet  we  find  a  series  of  men  and  a  series  of  women 
reacting  toward  questions  about  the  life  of  feeling  in 
wonderfully  similar  ways.  Nevertheless,  a  few  differ¬ 
ences  are  revealed,  some  of  which  confirm  certain 
conclusions  suggested  by  previous  experiments  of  the 
present  series. 

Sensory  experience  in  general  seems  to  be  some¬ 
what  more  prominent  in  the  consciousness  of  women 
than  in  that  of  men.  Other  investigators  agree  that 
synaesthesias  occur  more  frequently  in  women  than  in 
men,  and  in  the  present  investigation  they  were  found 
(grouping  all  forms  together)  in  fifteen  women  and 
eight  men.  This  fuller  sensory  experience  of  women 
may  be  correlated  with  the  fact  that  their  senses  as  a 
whole  are  more  highly  developed.  The  greater  promi¬ 
nence  of  visual  consciousness  among  women  is 
especially  marked.  That  women’s  visual  conscious¬ 
ness  held  this  relative  position  was  suggested  by  their 
better-developed  sense  of  color,  their  more  frequent 
use  of  visual  images  in  memorizing,  and  their  greater 
readiness  in  solving  a  problem  depending  on  quick¬ 
ness  of  visual  perception.  This  suggestion  receives 
further  confirmation  from  the  fact  that  a  greater 
number  of  women  than  of  men  report  vision  as  the 
sensory  field  which  attracts  attention  most  readily, 
and  as  the  one  from  which  most  pleasure  and  pain 
are  derived.  Pseudo-chromaesthesias,  number-forms 


AFFECTIVE  PROCESSES 


167 


and  diagrams  for  the  days  of  the  week  and  months  of 
the  year  are  also  more  numerous  among  women  than 
among  men.  The  pseudo-chromaesthesias  may  be 
correlated  with  the  more  highly  developed  color  sense 
of  women. 

The  greater  motor  ability  of  men,  which  was  shown 
by  the  experiments  recorded  in  chap,  ii,  may  be 
correlated  with  the  answers  to  the  questions  on  methods 
of  rest  and  recreation  and  the  question  as  to  physical 
activity.  More  men  than  women  prefer  outdoor  exer¬ 
cise  as  a  method  of  resting  after  mental  work.  Men 
class  outdoor  sports  much  higher  than  do  women  as  a 
form  of  amusement.  Physical  activity  is  greater 
among  men  than  among  women. 

Social  consciousness  seems  to  be  more  prominent 
in  men  than  in  women.  Social  gatherings  are  ranked 
higher,  as  a  form  of  amusement,  by  men,  and  their 
immediate  relations  to  their  fellows  seem  to  be  of 
greater  importance  to  men  than  to  women. 

The  religious  consciousness  is  more  prominent 
among  women  than  among  men.  More  women  than 
men  have  strong  religious  beliefs  and  regulate  their 
actions  by  religious  standards.  Belief  in  omens,  pre¬ 
sentiments,  and  superstitions  is  also  somewhat  more 
prominent  among  women. 

As  far  as  the  strength  of  the  emotional  nature,  the 
form  of  its  expression,  and  the  degree  of  impulsive¬ 
ness  in  action  are  concerned,  the  answers  coincide  very 
closely  for  the  sexes.  The  only  difference  is  that 
women  seem  to  have  a  greater  tendency  to  inhibit  the 
expression  of  emotion  and  to  act  from  reason  rather 
than  from  impulse.  The  tendency  to  introspection  is 
the  same  for  both  sexes.  It  is  somewhat  more  apt  to 


1 68 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


take  the  form  of  day-dreaming  among  women.  The 
reports  on  conscientiousness  are  the  same  for  both. 
Men  are  more  frank  than  women,  and  women  are  more 
easily  embarrassed  than  men.  In  intellectual  interests, 
easiest  and  hardest  branches  of  study,  and  methods  of 
work,  there  are  only  trifling  divergences.  Women 
derive  more  pleasure  from  study  than  men,  while  men 
devote  somewhat  more  time  to  it  than  women. 


CHAPTER  IX. 


CONCLUSION. 

In  the  previous  chapters  the  separate  divisions  of 
conscious  processes,  motor  ability,  the  various  sensory 
fields,  intellectual  faculties,  and  the  affective  processes 
have  been  considered  singly  with  reference  to  their 
comparative  development  in  men  and  women.  We 
may  now  bring  together  the  results  obtained  from  the 
various  fields,  and  ascertain  whether  or  not  any  broad 
generalizations  with  reference  to  the  psychological 
norms  of  men  and  women  which  can  be  regarded  as  of 
fundamental  importance  have  been  reached. 

It  has  been  found  that  motor  ability  in  most  of  its 
forms  is  better  developed  in  men  than  in  women.  In 
strength,  rapidity  of  movement,  and  rate  of  fatigue, 
they  have  a  very  decided  advantage,  and  in  precision 
of  movement  a  slight  advantage.  These  four  forms  of 
superiority  are  probably  all  expressions  of  one  and  the 
same  fact  —  the  greater  muscular  strength  of  men.  In 
the  formation  of  a  new  co-ordination  women  are 
superior  to  men.  The  greater  muscular  strength  of 
men  is  a  universally  accepted  fact.  There  has  been 
more  or  less  dispute  as  to  which  sex  displays  greater 
manual  dexterity.  According  to  the  present  results, 
manual  dexterity  which  consists  in  the  ability  to  make 
very  delicate  and  minutely  controlled  movements  is 
slightly  greater  in  men  ;  that  which  consists  in  the 
ability  to  co-ordinate  movements  rapidly  to  unforeseen 
stimuli  is  clearly  greater  in  women. 

169 


170 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


There  have  been  two  opposing  views  on  the  general 
subject  of  the  sensibility  of  the  sexes;  one  assigning 
the  keener  senses  to  men,  and  the  other  to  women. 
They  have  been  based  either  on  inadequate  experiment 
in  a  few  fields  of  sensibility  or  on  general  theoretical 
considerations.  The  present  investigation  of  the  total 
field  of  sensibility  has  resulted  in  the  following  con¬ 
clusions  regarding  thresholds  and  discriminative  sen¬ 
sibility  : 

Thresholds. — Women  have  lower  thresholds  in  the 
recognition  of  two  points  on  the  skin;  in  touch;  in 
sweet,  salt,  sour,  and  bitter  taste ;  in  smell  ;  in  color ; 
and  in  pain  through  pressure.  Men  and  women  are 
alike  in  respect  to  the  upper  and  lower  limits  of  pitch. 
Men  have  a  lower  threshold  in  the  perception  of  light. 

Discriminative  sensibility. — Women  have  finer  dis¬ 
crimination  in  pitch  and  in  color.  Men  and  women 
have  equal  discrimination  in  temperature,  in  odor,  and 
in  passive  pressure.  Men  have  finer  discrimination  in 
lifted  weights;  in  sweet,  sour,  and  bitter  taste;  in 
shades  of  gray  ;  probably  in  areas  on  the  skin  (the 
test  on  this  subject  does  not  warrant  certainty);  and 
in  visual  areas. 

The  number  of  cases  in  which  the  advantage  is  on 
the  side  of  the  women  is  greater  than  the  number  of 
cases  in  which  it  is  on  the  side  of  the  men.  The 
thresholds  are  on  the  whole  lower  in  women  ;  discrimi¬ 
native  sensibility  is  on  the  whole  better  in  men.  Those 
sensory  judgments  into  which  sensations  of  movement 
enter  directly,  such  as  the  discrimination  of  lifted 
weights  and  of  visual  lines  and  areas  are  somewhat 
Detter  in  men.  All  these  differences,  however,  are 
slight. 


CONCLUSION 


171 

As  for  the  intellectual  faculties,  women  are  decid¬ 
edly  superior  to  men  in  memory,  and  possibly  more 
rapid  in  associative  thinking.  Men  are  probably 
superior  in  ingenuity.  In  general  information  and 
intellectual  interests  there  is  no  difference  character¬ 
istic  of  sex. 

The  data  on  the  life  of  feeling  indicate  that  there 
is  little,  if  any,  sexual  difference  in  the  degree  of 
domination  by  emotion,  and  that  social  consciousness 
is  more  prominent  in  men  and  religious  consciousness 
in  women. 

Let  us  now  turn  to  the  question  how  well  or  how 
ill  these  results  accord  with  the  prevailing  biological 
view  of  the  mental  differences  between  the  sexes. 

It  is  perhaps  not  fair  to  speak  of  a  prevailing  view 
in  a  question  regarding  which  dispute  is  so  rife  ;  but 
the  view  which  seems  to  command  the  adherence  of 
most  scientists  at  present  is  that  advanced  by  Geddes 
and  Thomson  (29).  It  is  worked  out  in  some  detail 
on  the  psychological  side  by  Fouillee  (25);  Brooks 
(10)  and  Patrick  (68)  represent  the  same  tendency. 
The  view  is  not  altogether  free  from  contradictions,  nor 
entirely  satisfactory  in  so  far  as  it  pretends  to  be  a 
theory  of  the  evolution  of  sex.  Leaving  these  points 
aside,  its  general  tenets  are  that  the  differentiation 
between  the  sexes  in  the  course  of  evolution  has  been 
in  the  direction  of  a  sort  of  division  of  labor,  the  male 
assuming  the  processes  of  nutrition  and  the  female 
those  of  reproduction,  which  has  made  women  more 
anabolic  and  men  more  catabolic  in  physiological 
structure.  This  difference  is  displayed  in  its  most 
elementary  form  by  the  two  sexual  cells.  The  female 
is  large  and  immobile.  It  represents  stored  nutrition. 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


172 

The  male  cell  is  small  and  agile.  It  represents  ex¬ 
penditure  of  energy.  From  these  fundamental  char¬ 
acteristics  the  social  and  psychological  differences 
can  be  deduced.  The  female  represents  the  conserva¬ 
tion  of  the  species — the  preservation  of  past  gains 
made  by  the  race.  Her  characteristics  are  continuity, 
patience,  and  stability.  Her  mental  life  is  dominated 
by  integration.  She  is  skilled  in  particular  ideas  and 
in  the  application  of  generalizations  already  obtained, 
but  not  in  abstraction  or  the  formation  of  new  con¬ 
cepts.  Since  woman  is  receptive,  she  possesses 
keener  senses  and  more  intense  reflexes  than  man. 
Her  tendency  to  accumulate  nutrition  brings  about  a 
greater  development  of  the  viscera,  and,  since  emotions 
are  reflex  waves  from  the  viscera,  woman  is  more 
emotional  than  man.  The  male,  on  the  other  hand, 
represents  the  introduction  of  new  elements.  Males 
are  more  variable  than  females  throughout  the  animal 
kingdom.  Everywhere  we  find  the  male  sex  adven¬ 
turous  and  inventive.  Its  variety  of  ideas  and  senti¬ 
ments  is  greater.  Its  activities  are  characterized 
everywhere  by  impulsiveness  and  intensity,  rather 
than  by  patience  and  continuity.  Men  are  more 
capable  of  intense  and  prolonged  concentration  of 
attention  than  women.  They  are  less  influenced  by 
feeling  than  women.  They  have  greater  powers  of 
abstraction  and  generalization. 

It  is  evident  that,  on  the  surface  at  least,  the  results 
at  which  we  have  arrived  accord  very  well  with  this 
theory.  Men  did  prove  in  our  experiments  to  have 
better-developed  motor  ability  and  more  ingenuity. 
Women  did  have  somewhat  keener  senses  and  better 
memory.  The  assertion  that  the  influence  of  emotion 


CONCLUSION 


173 


is  greater  in  the  life  of  women  found  no  confirmation. 
Their  greater  tendency  toward  religious  faith,  however, 
and  the  greater  number  of  superstitions  among  them, 
point  toward  their  conservative  nature  —  their  function 
of  preserving  established  beliefs  and  institutions. 

But  before  we  accept  the  theory  advanced  as  the 
correct  interpretation  of  the  facts,  it  would  be  well  to 
examine  a  little  more  closely  the  evidence  on  which  it 
rests,  and  consider  whether  or  not  there  is  any  other 
possible  interpretation  with  equal  claims  to  a  hearing. 

In  the  first  place,  this  theory,  in  so  far  as  its  deduc¬ 
tions  about  mental  characteristics  are  derived  as  neces¬ 
sary  conclusions  from  the  nature  of  the  genital  cells, 
seems  to  rest  on  somewhat  far-fetched  analogies  only. 
The  sets  of  characteristics  deduced  for  the  sexes  may 
be  correct,  but  the  method  of  deriving  them  is  not  very 
convincing,  nor  is  the  set  of  characteristics  derived 
for  each  sex  entirely  consistent.  Women  are  said 
to  represent  concentration,  patience,  and  stability  in 
emotional  life.  One  might  logically  conclude  that 
prolonged  concentration  of  attention  and  unbiased 
generalization  would  be  their  intellectual  character¬ 
istics.  But  these  are  the  very  characteristics  assigned 
to  men.  Women,  though  more  stable  in  their  emo¬ 
tions,  are  more  influenced  by  them,  and,  although  they 
represent  patience  and  concentration,  they  are  incapa¬ 
ble  of  prolonged  efforts  of  attention.  Men,  whose 
activity  is  essentially  intermittent,  and  whose  emotions 
are  greater  in  variety  and  more  unstable,  are  charac¬ 
terized  by  prolonged  strains  of  attention  and  unbiased 
judgment.  It  may  be  true,  but  the  proof  for  it  does 
not  appeal  to  one  as  very  cogent.  In  fact,  after  read¬ 
ing  the  several  expositions  of  this  theory,  one  is  left 


174 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


with  a  strong  impression  that,  if  the  authors’  views  as 
to  the  mental  differences  of  sex  had  been  different,  they 
might  as  easily  have  derived  a  very  different  set  of 
characteristics.  There  is  truth  as  well  as  humor  in 
Lourbet’s  (52,  chap,  vi)  suggestion  that,  if  the  nature  of 
the  genital  cells  were  reversed,  it  would  be  a  little 
easier  for  this  school  of  evolutionists  to  derive  the 
characteristics  of  sex  with  which  they  finally  come  out. 
In  that  case,  the  female  cell,  smaller  and  more  agile 
than  the  male,  would  represent  woman  with  her  smaller 
size,  her  excitable  nervous  system,  and  her  incapacity 
for  sustained  effort  of  attention;  while  the  male  cell, 
large,  calm,  and  self-contained,  would  image  the  size 
and  strength,  the  impartial  reason,  and  the  easy  con¬ 
centration  of  attention  of  men. 

The  fact  which  is  put  forward  to  prove  the  greater 
natural  ingenuity  and  inventiveness  of  man  is  his  greater 
variability.  Lombroso,  without  more  ado,  asserts  that 
the  male  is  everywhere,  and  in  all  respects,  more  vari¬ 
able  than  the  female,  and  that  this  fact  alone  is  sufficient 
to  prove  his  greater  creative  ability.  The  doctrine  has 
been  unauestioningly  adopted  by  all  the  advocates  of 
this  theory.  It  is  called  upon  to  explain  the  occurrence 
of  more  individuals  of  unusual  mental  capacity,  both 
above  and  below  the  norm,  as  well  as  to  account  for 
the  greater  versatility  and  inventiveness  of  the  male 
mind. 

Unfortunately  for  the  theory,  the  latest  researches 
on  the  question  of  variability  have  failed  to  sustain  it. 
Pearson  (69)  subjects  the  previous  methods  of  meas- 
uringvariability  to  criticism,  and  finds  them  very  faulty. 
He  insists  that  pathological  variations  are  not  a  fair 
test  of  average  variability  in  the  sexes,  because  many 


CONCLUSION 


175 


diseases  have  a  tendency  to  attack  one  sex  rather 
than  the  other.  The  true  measure  of  the  variability 
which  must  be  regarded  as  important  in  evolution  is, 
he  says,  the  amount  of  normal  variation  found  in  organs 
or  characteristics  not  of  a  secondary  sexual  character. 
The  variation,  however,  of  any  organ  must  be  judged  by 
its  relative  departure  from  its  mean,  not,  as  has  for¬ 
merly  been  done,  by  its  absolute  variation,  or  by  its 
variation  relatively  to  some  other  organ.  Taking  all 
the  available  physical  measurements  of  human  beings 
as  a  basis  for  his  calculation,  Pearson  finds  the  total 
trend  of  his  observations  to  be  toward  a  somewhat 
greater  tendency  to  variation  in  women  than  in  men. 
He  concludes  that  “the  principle  that  man  is  more 
variable  than  woman  must  be  put  aside  as  a  pseudo¬ 
scientific  superstition  until  it  has  been  demonstrated 
in  a  more  scientific  manner  than  has  hitherto  been 
attempted.” 

While  it  may  still  prove  true  that  men  are  intellec¬ 
tually  more  variable  than  women,  it  cannot  be  deduced 
directly  from  the  universally  greater  variability  of  man. 
The  fact  is  often  held  to  be  proved  from  the  greater 
prevalence  of  both  genius  and  imbecility  among  men, 
but,  as  Pearson  points  out,  these  are  both  forms  of 
abnormal  variation.  It  is  perfectly  conceivable  that 
the  class  which  presented  the  greatest  number  of  abnor¬ 
malities  in  a  character  might  not  be  the  class  which 
displayed  the  widest  normal  variations  of  that  char¬ 
acter. 

But  even  though  it  could  be  shown  that  men  are 
intellectually  more  variable  than  women,  it  is  still 
difficult  to  see  why  this  would  give  a  basis  for  the 
statement  that  inventiveness  and  ability  to  arrive  at 


176 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


new  generalizations  are  characteristic  of  the  male 
mind  as  opposed  to  the  female.  It  would,  if  true, 
lead  us  to  expect  a  greater  number  of  intellectu¬ 
ally  inferior  and  of  intellectually  superior  individuals 
belonging  to  the  male  sex.  In  so  far  as  great  origi¬ 
nality  is  characteristic  of  exceptional  mental  ability, 
it  would  lead  us  to  expect  that  the  greatest  discover¬ 
ies  and  inventions  should  come  from  these  excep¬ 
tional  individuals.  But  that  is  not  at  all  the  same 
thing  as  saying  that  originality  and  inventiveness  are 
characteristic  of  the  male  mind  as  a  whole,  in  opposi¬ 
tion  to  the  female  mind,  as  a  whole.  This  statement 
assumes  not  merely  greater  variability  of  mind  in 
general,  but  the  presence  of  a  variation  in  a  given 
direction. 

The  biological  theory  of  psychological  differences 
of  sex  is  not  in  a  condition  to  compel  assent.  While 
it  is  true,  therefore,  that  the  present  investigation 
tends  to  support  the  theory,  it  is  just  as  true  that  the 
uncertain  basis  of  the  theory  itself  leaves  room  for 
other  explanations  of  the  facts,  if  there  are  other  sat¬ 
isfactory  ways  of  explaining  them. 

In  considering  the  question  whether  or  not  there 
is  any  other  explanation  for  the  facts  in  the  case,  it  is 
important  to  remember  that  the  make-up  of  any  adult 
individual  cannot  be  attributed  entirely  to  inherited 
tendency.  The  old  question  of  the  relative  impor¬ 
tance  of  heredity  and  environment  in  the  final  out¬ 
come  of  the  individual  must  be  taken  into  considera¬ 
tion.  Although  the  timeworn  controversy  is  far  from 
satisfactory  settlement,  the  results  of  recent  observa¬ 
tion  on  individual  development  have  tended  to  empha¬ 
size  more  and  more  the  extreme  importance  of  envi- 


CONCLUSION 


177 


ronment.  The  sociological  experiments  in  which  very 
young  children  from  the  criminal  classes  have  been 
placed  in  good  surroundings,  with  no  knowledge  of 
their  antecedents,  have  shown  that  such  children  usu¬ 
ally  develop  into  good  members  of  society.  The 
entire  practical  movement  of  sociology  is  based  on 
the  firm  conviction  that  an  individual  is  very  vitally 
molded  by  his  surroundings,  and  that  even  slight  modi¬ 
fications  may  produce  important  changes  in  character. 

The  suggestion  that  the  observed  psychological 
differences  of  sex  may  be  due  to  difference  in  environ¬ 
ment  has  often  been  met  with  derision,  but  it  seems 
at  least  worthy  of  unbiased  consideration.  The  fact 
that  very  genuine  and  important  differences  of  envi¬ 
ronment  do  exist  can  be  denied  only  by  the  most 
superficial  observer.  Even  in  our  own  country,  where 
boys  and  girls  are  allowed  to  go  to  the  same  schools 
and  to  play  together  to  some  extent,  the  social  atmos¬ 
phere  is  different,  from  the  cradle.  Different  toys  are 
given  them,  different  occupations  and  games  are 
taught  them,  different  ideals  of  conduct  are  held  up 
before  them.  The  question  for  the  moment  is  not  at 
all  whether  or  not  these  differences  in  education  are 
right  and  proper  and  necessary,  but  merely  whether  or 
not,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  they  exist,  and,  if  so,  what 
effect  they  have  on  the  individuals  who  are  subjected 
to  them. 

The  difference  in  physical  training  is  very  evident. 
Boys  are  encouraged  in  all  forms  of  exercise  and  in 
out-of-door  life,  while  girls  are  restricted  in  physical 
exercise  at  a  very  early  age.  Only  a  few  forms  of 
exercise  are  considered  lady-like.  Rough  games  and 
violent  exercise  of  all  sorts  are  discouraged.  Girls 


i7« 


THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 


are  kept  in  the  house  and  taught  household  occupa¬ 
tions.  The  development  of  physical  strength  is  not 
held  up  to  girls  as  an  ideal,  while  it  is  made  one  of 
the  chief  ambitions  of  boys. 

While  it  is  improbable  that  all  the  difference  of  the 
sexes  with  regard  to  physical  strength  can  be  attrib¬ 
uted  to  persistent  difference  in  training,  it  is  certain 
that  a  large  part  of  the  difference  is  explicable  on  this 
ground.  The  great  strength  of  savage  women  and 
the  rapid  increase  in  strength  in  civilized  women, 
wherever  systematic  physical  training  has  been  intro¬ 
duced,  both  show  the  importance  of  this  factor. 
When  we  consider  other  forms  of  motor  ability  than 
mere  muscular  force,  such  as  quickness  of  reaction 
and  accuracy  of  co-ordination,  it  seems  very  probable 
that  mere  differences  of  physical  training  are  ample  to 
account  for  these  differences  of  sex.  While  it  seems  to 
be  true  that  slower  rates  of  movement  and  decreased 
accuracy  of  co-ordination  do  result  from  greatly  infe¬ 
rior  physical  strength  it  is  not  true  that  the  correlation 
is  quantitatively  a  close  one.  Even  with  wide  differ¬ 
ences  in  muscular  force,  the  difference  in  motor  abil¬ 
ity  is  comparatively  slight.  Where  the  differences  in 
strength  are  slight,  we  have  no  reason  to  expect  differ¬ 
ences  in  motor  ability  on  that  ground. 

When  we  consider  the  other  important  respect  in 
which  men  are  supposed  to  be  superior  to  women  — 
ingenuity  or  inventiveness — we  find  equally  impor¬ 
tant  differences  in  social  surroundings  which  would 
tend  to  bring  about  this  result.  Boys  are  encouraged 
to  individuality.  They  are  trained  to  be  independent 
in  thought  and  action.  This  is  the  ideal  of  manliness 
held  up  before  them.  They  are  expected  to  under- 


CONCLUSION 


179 


stand  the  use  of  tools  and  machinery,  and  encouraged 
to  experiment  and  make  things  for  themselves. 
Girls  are  taught  obedience,  dependence,  and  defer¬ 
ence.  They  are  made  to  feel  that  too  much  independ¬ 
ence  of  opinion  or  action  is  a  drawback  to  them  — 
not  becoming  or  womanly.  A  boy  is  made  to  feel 
that  his  success  in  life,  his  place  in  the  world,  will 
depend  upon  his  ability  to  go  ahead  with  his  chosen 
occupation  on  his  own  responsibility,  and  to  accom¬ 
plish  something  new  and  valuable.  No  such  social 
spur  is  applied  to  girls.  Royce  (73)  in  his  article  on 
the  psychology  of  invention  says  : 

Only  heredity  can  account  for  the  very  wide  differences 
between  clever  men  and  stupid  men,  or  explain  why  men  of 
genius  exist  at  all.  But  the  minor  and  still  important  invent¬ 
iveness  of  the  men  of  talent,  the  men  of  the  second  grade,  is 
somehow  due  to  a  social  stimulation  which  sets  their  habits 
varying  in  different  directions.  And  this  stimulation  is  of  the 

type  which  abounds  in  periods  of  individualism . For  once 

more,  the  primary  character  of  the  social  influences  to  which  we 
are  exposed  is  that,  within  limits,  they  set  us  to  imitating  models; 
they  tend  to  make  us  creatures  of  social  routine,  slaves  of  the 

mob,  or  obedient  servants  of  the  world  about  us . Inventions 

thus  seem  to  be  the  results  of  the  encouragement  of  individuality. 

If  one  applies  these  words  to  the  question  of  the 
relative  inventiveness  of  the  sexes,  and  realizes  the 
wide  differences  in  social  influence  which  still  exist 
even  in  a  community  where  women  have  more  free¬ 
dom  and  more  education  than  anywhere  else  in  the 
world,  it  seems  rash  to  assume  that  the  observed  dif¬ 
ference  in  inventiveness  represents  a  genuine  and 
fundamental  sexual  difference  of  mind.  The  fact  that 
the  difference  revealed  by  experiment  is  so  slight  in 
men  and  women  whose  educations  have  been  as  nearly 


180  THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 

alike  as  those  of  students  in  a  co-educational  univer¬ 
sity,  tends  to  throw  further  doubt  on  the  fundamental 
importance  of  this  distinction.  The  very  brief  period 
in  which  women  have  been  given  any  systematic  edu¬ 
cation,  or  any  freedom  of  choice  in  occupation,  makes 
it  impossible  to  decide  the  question  on  the  basis  of 
previous  achievement. 

The  same  social  influences  which  have  tended  to 
retard  the  development  of  motor  ability  and  of  invent¬ 
iveness  in  women  would  tend  to  develop  keenness  of 
sense  and  the  more  reproductive  mental  processes,  such 
as  memory.  The  question  is  largely  one  of  the  distribu¬ 
tion  of  attention.  A  large  part  of  a  boy’s  attention 
goes  toward  his  activities  —  the  learning  of  new  move¬ 
ments,  the  manipulating  of  tools,  the  making  of 
contrivances  of  various  sorts.  A  girl’s  less  active  exist¬ 
ence  must  be  filled  with  some  other  sort  of  conscious 
process.  The  only  possibility  is  that  sensory  and  per¬ 
ceptual  processes  should  be  more  prominent.  In  some 
cases  the  special  training  of  girls  tends  directly  toward 
the  development  of  a  special  sense.  This  is  notably 
true  in  color,  and  perhaps  has  some  influence  in  taste. 
On  the  more  purely  intellectual  level,  it  is  only  natural 
that  in  the  absence  of  a  sufficient  social  spur  toward 
originality  and  inventiveness,  they  should  depend  more 
upon  memory  for  their  supply  of  ideas.  It  is  easier 
for  any  individual  to  learn  some  one  else's  ideas  than 
to  think  out  his  own.  Every  teacher  has  to  struggle 
against  the  tendency  to  memorize  merely,  and  to 
endeavor  in  every  way  to  stimulate  original  thought 
and  help  pupils  to  form  the  habit  of  doing  their  own 
thinking.  It  is  no  great  matter  for  surprise  that  in 
the  absence  of  social  stimulus  toward  originality  of 


CONCLUSION 


i  8 1 

thought,  women  should  have  tended,  from  inertia,  to 
stay  in  the  realm  of  reproductive  thinking. 

It  will  probably  be  said  that  this  view  of  the  case 
puts  the  cart  before  the  horse  —  that  the  training  and 
social  surroundings  of  the  sexes  are  different  because 
their  natural  characteristics  are  different.  It  will  be  said 
that  a  boy  is  encouraged  to  activity  because  he  is  natu¬ 
rally  active — that  he  is  given  tools  instead  of  a  doll  be¬ 
cause  he  is  naturally  more  interested  in  tools  than  in 
dolls.  But  there  are  many  indications  that  these  very 
interests  are  socially  stimulated.  A  small  boy  with  an 
older  sister  and  no  brothers  is  very  sure  to  display  an 
ambition  to  have  dolls.  It  is  in  most  cases  quenched 
early  by  ridicule,  but  it  is  evident  that  a  boy  must  be 
taught  what  occupations  are  suited  to  boys.  The  sor¬ 
rows  of  a  small  girl  with  brothers  because  she  is  not 
allowed  to  run  and  race  with  the  boys  and  take  part  in 
their  sports  and  games  have  frequently  been  recounted. 
If  it  were  really  a  fundamental  difference  of  instincts 
and  characteristics  which  determined  the  difference  of 
training  to  which  the  sexes  are  subjected,  it  would  not 
be  necessary  to  spend  so  much  effort  in  making  boys 
and  girls  follow  the  lines  of  conduct  proper  to  their 
sex.  The  more  probable  interpretation  of  the  facts  is 
that  the  necessities  of  social  organization  have  in  the 
past  brought  about  a  division  of  labor  between  the 
sexes,  the  usefulness  of  which  is  evident.  Social 
ideals  have  been  developed  in  connection  with  this 
economic  necessity,  and  still  persist. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  discuss  the  question  whether 
or  not  the  conditions  of  social  organization  still 
demand  the  same  division  of  labor,  and  make  the 
preservation  of  the  traditional  ideals  for  the  sexes 


1 82  THE  MENTAL  TRAITS  OF  SEX 

necessary  to  the  good  of  society.  If  such  is  the  case, 
there  is  no  doubt  that  the  present  state  of  affairs  will 
persist.  There  are,  as  everyone  must  recognize,  signs 
of  a  radical  change  in  the  social  ideals  of  sex.  The 
point  to  be  emphasized  as  the  outcome  of  this  study  is 
that,  according  to  our  present  light,  the  psychological 
differences  of  sex  seem  to  be  largely  due,  not  to  dif¬ 
ference  of  average  capacity,  nor  to  difference  in  type 
of  mental  activity,  but  to  differences  in  the  social 
influences  brought  to  bear  on  the  developing  individ¬ 
ual  from  early  infancy  to  adult  years.  The  question 
of  the  future  development  of  the  intellectual  life  of 
women  is  one  of  social  necessities  and  ideals,  rather 
than  of  the  inborn  psychological  characteristics  of  sex. 


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